INTER-AMERICAN 
ACQUAINTANCES 


CURATOR  OF  LATIN-AMERICAN  HISTORY  AND 
LITERATURE  OF  THE  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 
LIBRARY;  FORMERLY  A  STUDENT  AT  THE  UNI 
VERSIDAD  MAYOR  DE  SAN  MARCOS  DE  LIMA  & 
THE  UNIVERSIDAD  NACIONAL  DE  BUENOS  AIRES 


SECOND  EDITION 
EXTENDED 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

OF  SEWANEE  TENNESSEE 

MCMXVII 


Copyright  1917 
By  CHARLES  LYON  CHANDLER 


g 

M 
O 
V) 


O 

CX, 


OT 
00 

en 


TO 
HIS  EXCELLENCY 

DR.  ROMULO  S.  NAON 

FIRST  AMBASSADOR  FROM 
ARGENTINA  TO  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA,  THIS 
BOOK  IS  DEDICATED  AS  A 
SLIGHT  RECOGNITION  OF 
HIS  PATRIOTISM  IN  PUBLIC 


SERVICE 


3^5766 


PREFACE 

THIS  Httle  book  makes  no  claim  to  completeness  ; 
its  preparation  by  the  author  in  the  few  spare 
moments  of  his  life  as  a  railway  employe  may  perhaps 
excuse  any  fault  of  historical  diction  or  exhaustiveness. 
It  is  intended  to  be  suggestive  rather  than  directly 
instructive, —  to  stimulate  perhaps  a  few  of  those  now 
engaged  in  studying  South  American  history  in  its 
various  phases  in  our  colleges  and  universities  to 
elaborate  its  material  into  historical  or  economic 
studies  of  permanent  value.  It  aims  to  furnish  proofs 
for  the  two  following  statements :  — 

(i)  That  the  moral  and  material  aid  and  example 
of  the  United  States  were  a  factor  in  the  Latin- 
American  wars  for  independence; 
t  (2)  That  during  that  time,  as  well  as  previously, 
much  was  spoken  and  written  by  both  North  and 
South  Americans  which  forecasted  the  Pan-American 
movement,  embodying  the  fundamental  ideas  on  which 
the  Pan-American  Union  is  based. 

The  author  wishes  to  state  his  gratitude  to  Professor 
A.  C.  Coolidge,  of  Harvard  University ;  to  Professor 
James  Bardin,  of  the  University  of  Virginia;  and  to 
Professor  Beverly  W.  Bond,  of  the  University  of 

[v] 


PREFACE 

Indiana,  who  have  furnished  helpful  suggestions  after 
reading  the  proof.  The  authorities  of  the  Library  of 
Congress  at  Washington  and  of  the  New  York  Public 
Library  have  been  most  helpful,  as  well  as  those  at 
the  Public  Library  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  To  the  Misses 
Poor,  of  Brookline,  Mass.,  the  author's  debt  of  personal 
gratitude  is  so  great  that  their  thoughtfulness  in  placing 
their  rich  stores  of  Latin-American  information  at  his 
disposal  is  but  a  fresh  evidence  of  the  loving  care  of 
the  kindest  of  aunts,  who  first  inspired  the  author  with 
a  love  for  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages. 

The  many  historical  works  published  by  Latin- 
American  scholars  have  been  a  constant  inspiration  to 
the  author  in  his  work  ;  the  happy  memory  of  Agustin 
Alvarez,  of  Argentina,  and  the  keen  inspiration  of 
Anibal  Maurtuaand  Luis  Antonio  Eguiguren,  of  Peru, 
to  mention  but  a  few  of  many,  have  been  fresh  in- 
centives in  the  study  of  the  development  of  Inter- 
American  Acquaintances.  To  Henry  L.  Janes,  Esq., 
formerly  of  the  United  States  Diplomatic  Service  and 
now  meeting  with  well-deserved  success  in  other  lines 
at  Montevideo,  the  author  renews  his  appreciation  for 
several  constructive  hints  in  the  preparation  of  this 
little  book.  C.  L.  C. 

South  American  Agency  of  the 
Southern  Railway  and  Allied  Lines, 
Chattanooga,  Tennessee, 
July  i4th,  1917. 

[Vi] 


CONTENTS 


I.   Beginning  of  Pan-American  Relations  ...       I 

II.  Citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America  who 
took  part  in  the  Latin-American  War  of 
Independence,  1810-26 114 

III.  The  Wilkes  Exploring  Expedition  in  Brazil, 

Argentina,  Chile  and  Peru  in    1838-39  .  139 

IV.  The  Pan-Americanism  of  Henry  Clay  .    .    .149 

V.  The  Pan-American    Origin    of  the   Monroe 

Doftrine 161 

VI.   Diversions  in  Euscaran  :  A  Study  in  Persist- 
ently Influential  Heredity 170 

Epitome  of  Dates,  1807-26 179 


INTER-AMERICAN 
ACQUAINTANCES 

CHAPTER  I 
BEGINNING  OF  PAN-AMERICAN  RELATIONS 

IN  the  year  1648  Governor  Peter  Stuyvesant  of  the 
Dutch  colony  of  New  Amsterdam,  now  New  York, 
obtained  permission  from  his  home  government  of 
Holland  for  his  colony  to  trade  with  Brazil, — a  trade 
which  has  never  since  been  interrupted.  In  1698 
the  learned  Boston  divine,  Cotton  Mather,  notes  in 
his  diary  that  he  is  studying  Spanish,  and  that  he  has 
prepared  a  religious  book  in  Spanish  for  distribution 
in  Spanish  America.  In  1748  Scott,  Pringle  &  Scott, 
of  Madeira,  writing  to  John  and  William  Brown, 
Benjamin  Gerrish,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  Curwin,  of  Salem, 
advise  them  that  Madeira  had  been  licensed  to  ex- 
port "fish  and  other  foreign  provisions  to  Brazil, 
which  in  course  will  open  a  larger  and  more  ben- 
eficial corrimerce  between  this  and  your  colony." 
Five  years  before  this,  in  1743,  the  sloop  "Recruit," 
belonging  to  Henry  Taggart,  of  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  traded  to  Surinam.  In  1774  Captains  David 
Smith  and  Gamaliel  Collins,  of  Truro,  Massachusetts, 
made  the  first  cruise  from  the  United  States  to  the 

[-J 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Falkland  Islands,  and  in  the  next  year  Capt.  Uriah 
Bunker  returned  to  his  native  Nantucket  from  a  voy- 
age to  the  Brazil  banks.  These  men  were  whalers, 
and  it  was  to  such  as  they  that  Edmund  Burke 
alluded  when  he  spoke  as  follows  in  the  British  Par- 
liament on  March  22nd,  1775:  "Falkland  Island, 
which  seemed  too  remote  and  romantic  an  object  for 
the  grasp  of  national  ambition,  is  but  a  stage  and 
resting  place  in  the  progress  of  their  victorious  in- 
dustry. Whilst  some  of  them  draw  the  line  and  strike 
the  harpoon  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  others  run  the 
longitude  and  pursue  their  gigantic  game  along  the 
coast  of  Brazil."  It  is  almost  more  than  a  coincidence 
that  Capt.  Uriah  Bunker  returned  to  Nantucket  on 
April  ipth,  1775,  the  day  of  the  battles  of  Lexington 
and  of  Concord.  One  hundred  years  later  the  Em- 
peror of  Brazil  sailed  from  that  country  on  an  April 
morning  for  the  United  States  to  aid  in  celebrating 
the  centenary  of  their  independence. 

These  whalers  began  to  attract  some  international 
attention.  On  the  thirteenth  of  October,  1778,  the 
American  commissioners  in  France,  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin and  John  Adams,  wrote  to  Monsieur  de  Sartine: — 

The  English  last  year  carried  on  a  very  valu- 
able whale  fishery  off  the  cost  of  Brazil  and  off  the 

River  Plate They  have  this  year  about 

seventeen  vessels  in  this  fishery,  which  have  all 
sailed  in  the  months  of  September  and  October. 
All  the  officers  and  almost  all  the  men  belonging 
to  these  seventeen  vessels  are  Americans  from 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Cape  Cod  and  Nantucket  in  Massachusetts,  ex- 
cepting two  or  three  from  Rhode  Island  and  per- 
haps one  from  Long  Island. 

A  list  of  twenty  American  captains  of  British 
whalers,  sixteen  of  whom  were  from  Nantucket,  as 
obtained  from  the  officers  of  three  of  the  whalers  that 
had  been  captured  by  French  cruisers,  was  added  to 
the  communication.  Adams  and  Franklin  proposed 
sending  an  American  frigate  to  destroy  this  whaling 
fleet ;  but  nothing  was  ever  done.  In  the  next  year, 
on  September  I3th,  1779,  John  Adams  wrote  to  the 
same  effect  regarding  these  American-manned  vessels 
in  the  River  Plate  whale  fishery  to  the  council  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  adding  that  all  the  officers  and 
men  were  Americans. 

Let  us  turn  to  the  other  portion  of  Latin  America 
for  a  moment.  In  1 767  permission  had  been  granted 
to  the  English  colonies  in  North  America  to  export 
rice  to  the  Spanish  colonies ; — and  it  should  be  re- 
membered in  this  connection  that  one  quarter  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the 
New  World,  were  merchants  or  shipowners.  Many  of 
them  doubtless  knew  or  had  heard  of  the  latent  wealth 
and  growing  iuportance  of  the  Americas  to  the  south- 
ward. One  of  the  signers  was  lost  at  sea  during  the 
Revolution  on  a  voyage  to  the  West  Indies. 

Neither  was  the  west  coast  of  South  America  igno- 
rant of  the  United  States.  In  the  year  1775  we  find 

[3] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

the  famous  Peruvian  savant,  Cosme  Bueno,  referring 
to  a  work  on  smallpox  published  in  Boston  in  1720, 
probably  written  by  Dr.  Zabdiel  Boylston,  and  first 
printed  in  English  by  Benjamin  Franklin's  brother 
James.  The  Peruvian  scholar,  Luis  Antonio  Egui- 
guren,  who  has  studied  the  history  of  his  country  so 
carefully  and  minutely,  informs  me  of  another  link  in 
the  chain.  They  had  great  doings  in  Peru  when  Amat 
y  Junient  was  Viceroy;  and  once  some  learned  poet 
of  Lima,  so  Eguiguren  tells  me,  stated  that  the  uni- 
versity ceremonies  to  please  the  Viceroy  were  no  such 
great  extravagance  after  all,  for  did  they  not  do  things 
on  a  far  more  elaborate  scale  in  the  English  colonies 
in  North  America?  Now  this  can  only  refer  to  the 
"Pietas  et  Gratulatio,"  published  by  Harvard  College 
in  sonorous  Latin  in  1762,  when  George  the  Third 
had  been  crowned  King  of  England.  For  this  is  the 
only  occasion  in  our  early  college  life  commemorating  a 
royal  event  to  which  the  Viceroy's  apologist  could 
have  referred. 

Even  before  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  (September 
3,  1783)  had  been  signed,  establishing  by  international 
agreement  the  independence  of  the  first  of  the  New 
World  Republics  to  gain  its  freedom,  Aranda,  the 
Prime  Minister  of  Spain,  addressed  the  King,  Charles 
III,  in  a  Memorial  (1783)  as  follows: — 

The  independence  of  the  English  colonies  has 
just  been  recognized,  and  this  is  food  for  thought 
and  fear,  in  my  opinion.  This  Federal  Republic 

[4] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

has  been  born  a  pigmy,  so  to  speak,  and  has 
needed  the  aid  of  States  as  powerful  as  Spain  and 
France  to  attain  her  independence.  The  time  will 
come  when  she  will  be  a  giant,  and  even  a  colossus, 
much  to  be  feared  in  those  vast  regions.  Then 
she  will  forget  the  benefits  that  she  received  from 
both  powers  and  will  only  think  of  aggrandizing 
herself.  Her  first  step  will  be  to  get  possession 
of  the  Floridas  to  dominate  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
These  fears  are,  Sire,  only  too  well  founded  and 
will  be  realized  within  a  few  years  if  other  more 
disastrous  events  do  not  previously  occur  in  our 
Americas.  A  wise  policy  admonishes  us  to  fore- 
stall these  threatening  evils 

Aranda  further  proposes,  as  a  means  of  avoiding 
the  loss  of  the  Spanish  colonies,  that  Spain  should  with- 
draw from  all  except  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico,  and  that 
three  kingdoms  should  be  created,  united  to  that 
of  Spain,  the  King  of  Spain  to  take  the  title  of 
Emperor  over  all  his  dominions, —  a  curious  fore- 
runner of  the  modern  "Imperial  Federation  System" 
of  Great  Britain. 

It  will  be  readily  seen,  therefore,  that  the  influence 
and  example  of  the  United  States  of  America  on  the 
Spanish  colonies  of  that  continent  was  feared  by  the 
Prime  Minister  of  Spain  twenty-seven  years  before  the 
Spanish-American  War  of  Independence  broke  out  in 
1810.  Clearer  proof  could  scarcely  be  needed  of  the 
early  influence  of  the  United  States  of  America  on  the 
destinies  of  that  part  of  the  continent  which  was  then 
under  the  Spanish  Crown. 

[5] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

On  May  25th,  1783,  Juan  Manuel  de  Cagigal 
(1739-1811),  then  Lieutenant-General  of  the  island  of 
Cuba  for  his  most  Catholic  Majesty  Charles  the  Third 
of  Spain  and  the  Indies,  addressed  the  following  letter 
to  George  Washington  : — 

MOST  EXCELLENT  SIR  : 

The  present  circumstances  have  not  permitted 
me,  as  the  war  is  over  and  I  am  returning  to 
Spain,  to  visit  those  famous  countries  and  to  have 
the  honor  of  knowing  the  Fabius  of  these  times  as 
I  had  intended.  Will  your  Excellency  allow  me 
to  do  so  by  means  of  this  letter,  placing  myself  at 
your  orders  and  at  the  same  time  commending  to 
you  my  aide-de-camp,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Fran- 
cisco de  Miranda,  who  has  just  sailed  for  Phiadel- 
phia  for  that  very  purpose ;  his  character,  education 
and  other  qualities  have  always  particularly  at- 
tracted me,  and  I  hope  that  they  will  likewise  gain 
for  him  your  appreciation  and  esteem,  for  which  I 
shall  be  extremely  grateful. 

I  am  a  constant  admirer  of  your  Excellency's 
heroic  virtues,  and  I  shall,  therefore,  have  a  par- 
ticular pleasure  in  serving  you  ;  pray  command  me 
at  your  will.  May  Our  Lord  guard  your  noble 
life  many  years  and  keep  your '  glorious  deeds 
immortal. 

This  Francisco  de  Miranda  was  an  enthusiastically 
consistent  Pan-American  from  the  day  that  he  was 
born  in  luxury  at  Caracas  to  the  night  when  he  died 
in  a  slimy  dungeon  at  Cadiz.  rf*On  pursuing  his  cor- 
respondence one  is  struck  withthe  constant  repetition 

[6] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

of  the  phrase,  "Nuestras  Americas" — Our  Americas — 
expecially  when  he  is  planning  concerted  action  with 
those  countries  distant  from  his  native  Venezuela,  as 
Argentina  and  Chile.  The  differences  in  language 
were  no  barrier  to  his  broad  ideas  and  ideals;  he  urged 
and  longed  for  the  cooperation  of  Brazil  and  Haiti  in 
his  far-seeing  plans.  Miranda's  Pan-American  educa- 
tion may  be  considered  as  partly  responsible  for  all 
this.  He  told  President  Ezra  Stiles,  of  Yale,  that  he 
studied  law  a  year  or  more  at  a  college  in  the  City  of 
Mexico  after  his  education  in  Venezuela,  and  he  at- 
tended lectures  at  Yale  University  in  July,  1784.  So 
far  as  can  be  ascertained  he  was  the  first  South  Amer- 
ican to  study  at  a  university  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  It  is  to  be  greatly  hoped  that,  with  the 
praiseworthy  attention  which  is  now  being  bestowed 
at  Yale  on  Latin  American  matters,  that  a  Francisco 
de  Miranda  scholarship  for  travel  and  study  in  Latin 
America  may  be  opened  in  the  near  future  at  that 
university. 

Professor  Robertson  has  so  clearly  detailed  for  us 
in  his  excellent  biographical  monograph  on  Miranda 
the  salient  facts  of  that  great  patriot's  career  that  it 
only  remains  to  be  stated  here  that  he  met,  talked 
with  and  was  inspired  by  George  Washington ;  and 
that,  while  in  the  United  States  from  the  spring  of 
1783  to  December,  1784,  he  seemed  to  have  been 
more  or  less  friendly  with  Hamilton,  Franklin,  Dick- 
inson, Greene,  Moultrie,  Thomas  Paine,  Samuel 

[71 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Adams,  Livingston  (who  afterwards  bought  Louisiana 
from  France  for  the  United  States  of  America),  Duer, 
Baron  Steuben,  Governor  Bowdoin,  Izard,  and  William 
Floyd.  We  shall  come  back  to  Miranda  later. 

It  must  have  been  about  1785,  that  Charles  Brock- 
den  Brown,  the  first  American  author,  sketched  the 
plans  of  several  epics,  on  the  discovery  of  America 
and  the  conquests  of  Peru  and  Mexico.  No  vestige 
of  them  now  remains. 

In  1785  we  find  the  following  in  the  Political 
Herald  and  Review  of  London  in  an  article  on  South 
America:  "The  flame  which  was  kindled  in  North 
America,  as  was  foreseen,  has  made  its  way  into  the 
American  dominions  of  Spain.  The  example  of 
North  America  is  the  great  subject  of  discourse  and 
the  grand  object  of  emulation." 

How  true  this  was  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
extract  from  a  dispatch  from  John  Adams,  then 
United  States  Minister  to  England,  to  John  Jay,  who 
was  then  Secretary  of  the  Confederation  of  the  United 
States  of  America  for  foreign  affairs,  from  London, 
dated  May  28th,  1786: — 

An  agent  from  South  America  was  not  long 
since  arrested  at  Rouen  in  France,  and  has  not 
since  been  heard  of.  Another  agent,  who  was  his 
associate,  as  I  have  been  told,  is  here  and  has 
applied  to  Government  for  aid.  Government,  not 
in  a  condition  to  go  to  war  with  Spain,  declines  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  the  business 

You  are  probably  better  informed  than  I  can 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

pretend  to  be  of  the  disturbances  which  took  place 
in  the  Spanish  provinces  of  South  America,  during 
the  late  war,  of  the  pacification  of  them,  and  of  the 
complaints  and  discontent  which  now  prevails.  It 
is  a  fixed  opinion  in  many  minds  "ho PC,  that  a 
revolution  in  South  America  would  be  agreeable 
to  the  United  States,  and  it  is  depended  on  that 
we  shall  do  nothing  to  prevent  it,  if  we  do  not 
exert  ourselves  to  promote  it 

Diego  de  Gardoqui,  then  Spanish  Minister  to  the 
United  States,  reported  to  the  Marquis  de  Sonora  on 
February  1st,  1786,  that  various  United.  States  vessels 
had  gone  fishing  to  the  Falkland  Islands  in  1 784,  and 
that  many  more  had  proceeded  thither  in  1785  ;  and 
he  did  not  doubt  that  they  would  form  an  establish- 
ment on  those  Islands.1 

Not  six  months  later  an  incident  occurred  which 
we  shall  describe  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  greatest 
of  early  Pan -Americans,  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  was 
then  United  States  Minister  to  France.  He  wrote 
to  Secretary  Jay  from  Marseilles  on  May  4th,  1787, 
as  follows: — 

My  journey  in  this  part  of  the  country  has  pro- 
cured me  information  which  I  will  take  the  liberty 
of  communicating  to  Congress.  In  October  last  I 
received  a  letter  dated  Montpellier,  October  2, 
1786,  announcing  to  me  that  the  writer  was  a 
foreigner  who  had  a  matter  of  very  great  conse- 
quence to  communicate  to  me  and  desired  I  would 


lLa  Nation,  Centenary  Volume,  1916,  p.  702. 
[9] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

indicate  the  channel  through  which  it  might  pass 
safely.  I  did  so.  I  received,  soon  after,  a  letter  in 
the  following  words,  omitting  all  formal  parts : — 
"I  am  a  Brazilian,  and  you  know  that  my  un- 
happy country  groans  under  a  most  dreadful 
slavery,  which  becomes  more  intolerable  since  the 
era  of  your  glorious  independence — the  barbarous 
Portuguese  sparing  nothing  to  make  us  unhappy 
for  fear  that  we  should  follow  your  steps.  And 
as  we  know  that  these  usurpers  against  the  laws  of 
nature  and  humanity  have  no  other  thoughts  than 
of  coercing  us,  we  are  determined  to  follow  the 
striking  example  which  you  have  given  us;  and 
consequently  to  break  our  chains  and  bring  to  life 
liberty,  which  is  now  dead  and  oppressed  by 
physical  force,  which  is  the  only  power  Europeans 
have  over  America.  But  as  Spain  will  not  "fail  to 
join  Portugal,  it  is  necessary  that  a  nation  should 
join  us,  and  notwithstanding  the  advantages  we 
have  for  defence,  we  cannot  do  it,  or  at  least  it 
would  not  be  prudent  for  us  to  run  any  hazard, 
without  being  sure  of  success.  Your  nation,  Sir, 
is,  we  think,  that  which  should  most  suitably  assist 
us,  because  it  is  she  that  has  given  us  the  example; 
and  also  because  nature  has  made  us  inhabitants 
of  the  same  continent,  and  has  consequently  con- 
stituted us,  in  some  sort,  countrymen.  We  are 
ready,  on  our  part,  to  furnish  all  the  funds  that 
may  be  necessary,  and  show,  at  all  times,  our 
gratitude  towards  our  benefactors.  This  is  the 
substance  of  my  intention  and  it  is  to  fulfill  this 
commission  that  I  am  now  in  France,  as  I  could 
not  do  it  in  America  without  exciting  some  sus- 
picions. It  is  for  you  to  judge  if  they  can  be 

[10] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

realized,  and  in  case  you  should  wish  to  consult 
your  nation  on  the  subject,  I  am  enabled  to  give 
you  all  the  information  that  you  may  think 
necessary." 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc., 

THOS.  JEFFERSON. 
Montpelher,  21  Nov.,  1786. 

In  this  year,  1787,  there  was  published  a  two- 
volume  work  at  Madrid,  entitled  "Diccionario  Geo- 
grafico  Historico  de  las  Indias  Occidentales  o  Ameri- 
ca," written  by  a  captain  of  the  Royal  Spanish  Guards 
named  Antonio  de  Alcedo  y  Bexarano,  which  was 
destined  to  enjoy  a  considerable  circulation  and  in- 
fluence in  the  Spanish-American  colonies.  The  ac- 
counts of  the  United  States  of  America  in  this  book 
are  complete  and  unusually  accurate ;  it  is  a  minute 
gazetteer  of  North  as  well  as  South  America.  In  Vol. 
II,  pages  104,  105,  we  read  a  long  account  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
the  exhortation  of  1774  to  the  inhabitants  of  Boston 
being  printed  in  full.  The  beginning  of  Alcedo's 
account  of  the  events  in  Boston  is  worth  quoting,  in 
translation :  "The  severity  of  the  British  Parliament 
against  Boston  should  make  all  the  American  prov- 
inces tremble ;  there  now  remains  no  other  choice 
for  them  but  imprisonment,  fire,  and  the  horrors  of 
death  or  the  yoke  of  a  low  and  servile  obedience;  the 
time  of  an  important  revolution  had  arrived."  One 
of  the  most  interesting  evidences  of  the  influence  of 
this  geographical  and  historical  dictionary  of  America 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

was  its  use  by  those  who  promoted  the  Uruguayan 
Revolution  of  1813,  with  particular  reference  to  the 
famous  "instructions"  of  that  year. 

On  December  I5th,  1787,  Thomas  Jefferson,  who 
was  still  representing  the  United  States  of  America  at 
Paris,  wrote  as  follows  to  William  Carmichael,  who 
was  representing  that  country  at  Madrid : — 

I  have  been  told  that  the  cutting  thro'  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  which  the  world  has  so  often 
wished  and  supposed  practicable,  has  at  times 
been  thought  of  by  the  Government  of  Spain,  and 
that  they  once  proceeded  so  far  as  to  have  a 
survey  and  examination  made  of  the  ground  ;  but 
that  the  result  was  either  impracticability  or  too 
great  difficulty.  Probably  the  Count  de  Campo- 
manes  or  Don  Ulloa  can  give  you  information  on 
this  head.  I  should  be  exceedingly  pleased  to 
get  as  minute  details  as  possible  on  it,  and  even 
copies  of  the  survey,  reports,  etc.,  if  they  could  be 
obtained  at  a  moderate  expense.  I  take  the  lib- 
erty of  asking  your  assistance  in  this. 

A  year  before  this,  on  November  I3th,  1786,  Jeffer- 
son had  written  to  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 

ices  of  France  on  this  subject. 

It  is  an  extremely  curious  historical  coincidence 
lat  three  months  before  Jefferson  wrote  the  foregoing 
fdispatch,  the  "Columbia"  and  "Lady  Washington" 
sailed,  in  September,  1787,  from  Boston  for  the  west 
coast  of  South  America,  being  the  first  United  States 
vessels  to  go  to  that  part  of  the  world.  They  stopped 

[12] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

at  the  island  of  Juan  Fernandez,  which  the  "Colum- 
bia" left  on  June  3rd,  1788,  on  account  of  the 
Spanish  Royal  Order  of  November  25th,  1692,  which 
forbade  foreign  ships  to  navigate  the  South  Seas  with- 
out permission  of  Spain.  It  is  not  generally  known 
that  this,  one  of  the  most  striking  instances  of  a  claim 
to  exclusive  navigation  of  a  part  of  the  open  ocean, 
was  not  modified  until  October  28th,  1790,  when  by 
the  Nootka  Sound  Treaty  of  that  date  it  was  modified 
only  as  regarded  England,  this  being  the  first  express 
renunciation  of  Spain's  ancient  claim -to  exclusive 
sovereignty  on  the  American  shores  of  the  Pacific 
Oc'ean  and  South  Seas ;  it  marked  the  beginning  of 
the  collapse  of  the  Spanish  colonial  system.  Three 
years  later,  in  1792,  United  States  ships  came  to  the 
Lobos  Islands  off  the  coast  of  Peru,  and  from  that 
day  to  this  the  Stars  and  Stripes  have  played  their 
part  in  the  development  of  the  Pacific  coast  of  the 
Americas.  It  may  be  noted  in  this  connection  that 
as  a  matter  of  strict  law,  until  the  last  Spanish  posses- 
sion on  the  Pacific  coast,  the  fortress  at  Callao,  sur- 
rendered on  January  29th,  1826,  less  than  a  hundred 
years  ago,  these  exclusive  Spanish  claims  to  maritime 
supremacy  remained  in  force. 

Spain  had  taken  formal  possession  of  Nootka  Sound 
on  March  I4th,  1789, — a  significant  date  in  American 
history,  for  it  aroused,  even  though  in  a  measure 
indirectly,  by  the  controversy  and  diplomatic  corre- 
spondence that  ensued  between  England  and  Spain, 

C'3] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

profound  interest  in  the  United  States  of  America  in 
the  affairs  of  Spain  and  her  colonies  in  the  New 
World.  From  the  beginning  of  the  republic  we  had 
no  more  vital  question  of  foreign  affairs  than  that  with 
this  same  country,  and  there  are  few  problems  which 
have  more  constantly  engaged  the  attention  of  those 
charged  with  the  foreign  relations  of  the  United  States 
of  America  from  1789  to  the  present  day  than  these 
Spanish  American  ones. 

There  is  another  point  about  this  Nootka  Sound 
settlement  which  deserves  attention.  Spain  itself  is 
situated  between  the  35th  and  45th  parallels  of  lati- 
tude, and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  immigrants  from 
Spain  to  America  came  .from  between  the  38th  and 
45th  of  these  parallels.  Now  there  was  almost  no 
Spanish  settlement  ever  made  during  colonial  times 
south  of  the  4Oth  parallel  of  south  latitude,  and  South 
America  between  the  3Oth  and  4Oth  parallels  was  very 
thinly  settled  until  about  1850.  Nootka  Sound  was 
almost  the  only  Spanish  settlement  in  North  America 
that  had  the  climate,  or  lay  in  or  #bove  the  latitudes 
of  the  northern  half  of  Spain.  Therefore  the  Spaniards 
settled  very  rarely  where  the  climatic  conditions  were 
the  same  as  those  in  the  mother  country.  Conse- 
quently we  find  the  customary  effects  taking  place 
among  Spaniards  situated  in  countries  far  hotter  than 
those  in  which  they  and  their  ancestors  had  lived  ;  and 
the  only  Spanish  colonies  in  which  Spain  was  not  even 
able  to  land  an  expeditionary  force  to  reconquer  them 

[14] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

were  those  situated  in  a  cool  climate  and  temperate 
zone.  These  climatic  influences  have  a  profound 
bearing  on  the  entire  Latin- American  revolutionary 
period  with  which  we  are  about  to  deal ;  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  in  a  city  of  the  elevation  and  vigorous 
climate  of  Bogota,  we  meet  with  the  next  striking 
instance  of  Pan-Americanism. 

We  should  not,  however,  pass  by  an  extract  from 
a  letter  written  in  1791  by  the  Jesuit  father,  Juan 
Pablo  Vizcardo  y  Guzman,  a  native  of  Arequipa  in 
Peru,  which  reads  as  follows : — 

The  valor  with  which  the  English  colonies  of 
America  have  fought  for  their  liberty,  which  they 
gloriously  enjoy,  covers  our  indolence  with  shame; 
we  have  yielded  to  them  the  palm  with  which  they 
have  been  the  first  to  crown  the  New  World  by 
their  sovereign  independence. 

It  was  also  in  1791  that  Thomas  Jefferson,  then 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
instructed  David  Humphreys,  then  U.  S.  Minister  to 
Portugal,  to  "procure  for  us  all  the  information  pos- 
sible as  to  the  strength,  riches,  resources,  lights  and 
disposition  of  Brazil." 

We  do  not  know  how  early  in  life  the  Colombian 
patriot,  Antonio  Narino,  began  to  read  about  the 
United  States;  but,  to  judge  from  the  proceedings  of 
his  trial  in  1794  for  seditious  practices,  he  had  been 
for  some  time  previously,  to  quote  the  words  of 
Enrique  Unana  and  Bermando  Cifuentes  in  their 

['5] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

testimony  of  July  2 5th  of  that  year,  "working  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  constitution  of  Philadelphia."  In 
Narino's  defence  at  this  trial  he  refers  to  the  laws  and 
constitutions  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and 
exclaims,  "Oh  Fatherland  of  the  Franklins,  of  the 
Washingtons,  of  the  Hancocks,  and  of  the  Adamses, 
who  is  not  glad  that  they  lived  both  for  themselves 
and  for  us!"  He  alludes  to  our  "Neighbors  of  the 
North,"  an  expression  he  may  possibly  have  drawn 
from  his  translation  in  1792  of  Thomas  Paine's 
"Rights  of  Man,"  which  he  circulated  in  Colombia  in 
that  year.  Among  Narino's  books  were  a  summary 
of  the  revolution  of  the  United  States  of  America,  a 
compilation  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  that  country, 
both  in  French, — the  latter  dedicated  to  Benjamin 
Franklin, — the  Freeholder's  monitor,  and  a  Spanish- 
English  dictionary  in  two  volumes.  He  also  had  a 
portrait  of  Benjamin  Franklin  in  his  house  as  early  as 
1793.  That  Narino's  ideas  were  not  confined  to 
himself  alone  is  shown  in  the  charge  against  Doctor 
Luis  de  Raiux,  a  Frenchman,  who  was  also  tried  in 
1794  in  Colombia,  that  in  April,  1793,  in  the  house  of 
Juan  Dionisio  Gamba,  he  persuaded  those  present 
with  the  utmost  energy  that  it  was  time  to  throw  off 
the  yoke  of  despotism  and  form  an  independent  repub- 
lic on  the  model  of  that  of  Philadelphia.  That  city 
was  then  the  capital  of  the  only  American  republic. 

So  fearful  were  the  Spanish  authorities  becoming  of 
_the  spread  of  the  influence  of  the  United  States  of 

[16] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

America  in  their  American  possessions  that  a  Royal 
Order  of  May  i8th,  1791,  was  issued  forbidding  the 
circulation  of  any  kind  of  medals  in  the  Indies  which 
alluded  to  freedom  of  the  Anglo-American  colonies. 
It  appears  that  this  order  had  especial  reference  to  cer- 
tain medals  struck  to  commemorate  the  independence 
of  the  United  States,  with  the  word  "Libertad  Amer- 
icana" (American  Liberty)  engraved  on  thernTI 

Let  us  return  for  a  moment  to  Miranda.  In  1795 
commissioners  from  Mexico  met  him  in  Paris  and 
held  what  was  the  prototype  of  all  succeeding  Pan- 
American  congresses.  As  a  result  of  their  confer- 
ence a  remarkable  paper  was  submitted  to  the  British 
government  advocating  the  cooperation  of  Great 
Britian  and  the  United  States  in  a  movement  to  free 
Latin  America.  The  ninth  and  tenth  articles  of  this 
document  relate  to  the  project  of  an  alliance  between 
Latin  America  and  the  United  States,  breathing  the 
spirit  of  mutual  interest  and  aspirations  out  of  which 
grew  the  Pan-American  Union.  It  was  doubtless 
alarm  at  such  concerted  movements,  as  the  foregoing 
incident  would  indicate,  that  the  Viceroy  in  Peru,  Don 
Ambrosio  O'Higgins,  issued  a  decree  in  April,  1796, 
prohibiting  the  introduction  into  Peru  of  foreign  news- 
papers, among  which  are  more  definitely  specified 
English,  French,  and  those  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  the  decree  declaring  that  those  who  re- 
ceived and  read  such  periodicals  shall  be  treated  as 
disturbers  of  the  public  peace.  A  month  before  this 

t'7] 
3 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Miranda  had  written  as  follows  to  General  Henry 
Knox,  the  first  Secretary  of  War  of  the  United  States 
of  America: — 

I  take  the  pen  only  to  tell  you  that  I  live  and 
that  my  sentiments  for  our  dear  Colombia,  as  well 
as  for  all  my  friends  in  that  part  of  the  world,  have 
not  changed  in  the  least. 

Before  passing  on  to  Miranda's  Pan-American  writ- 
ings of  the  year  1 794,  we  must  not  forget  to  mention 
that  on  the  ninteenth  of  August,  1797,  Antonio  Narino 
declared  to  the  Viceroy  of  New  Granada  that  he  had 
negotiated  with  one  P.  Conlon,  of  64  North  Front 
Street,  Philadelphia,  regarding  buying  arms  there  for 
the  patriots.  Thus  Philadelphia  continued  to  be  the 
source  of  material  aid  as  well  as  that  of  political  inspi- 
ration in  the  New  World.  On  February  I7th,  1797, 
Timothy  Pickering,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  wrote  as  follows  in  an  instruction 
to  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  had  been  recently  ap- 
pointed United  States  Minister  to  Portugal,  of  which 
Brazil  was  then  a  colony : — 

Col.  Humphreys  [the  first  United  States  Minis- 
ter to  Portugal]  was  desired  to  gain,  if  practicable, 
some  certain  information  of  Brazil,  although  the 
usual  policy  of  European  nations,  and  particularly 
of  Spain  and  Portugal,  tends  to  the  exclusion  of 
foreign  vessels  from  their  American  Colonies,  yet 
so  far  as  they  depend  on  the  United  States  for 
supplies  of  the  articles  most  necessary  to  the 
planters  and  other  inhabitants,  either  for  goods  for 

[18] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

building,  or  for  the  exportation  of  their  produce, 
a  direct  trade  with  us  would  evidently  be  most 
beneficial  to  them  as  well  as  to  us.  Spain,  for 
instance,  excludes  our  vessels  unless  furnished  with 
licenses  from  her  public  agents  here;  the  conse- 
quence is,  that  the  colonists  pay  nearly  two  prices 
for  their  flour.  At  other  times  our  flour  is  carried 
to  Cadiz,  and  thence  in  Spanish  vessels  to  the 
Colonies.  In  both  cases  the  general  interests  of 
the  colonists  and  of  the  mother  country  are  sac- 
rificed to  the  emolument  of  a  few  agents  and 
monopolists. 

I  do  not  know  whether  anything  similar  exists 
in  the  colonial  regulations  of  Portugal.  There  has 
never  been,  as  I  have  heard,  any  intercourse  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Brazil,  yet  the  climate 
and  produce  of  at  least  a  very  large  portion  of  that 
extensive  country  must  be  such  as  to  render  sup- 
plies of  some  species  of  provisions,  particularly 
bread,  as  necessary  to  the  inhabitants,  as  to  those 
of  the  West  India  Islands.  And  hence  I  presume 
that  those  provisions,  particularly  flour,  are  trans- 
ported hither  from  Portugal — flour  made  of  Amer- 
ican wheat.  But  we  are  too  little  acquainted  with 
the  trade,  culture  and  wants  of  Brazil  to  form  any 
just  conclusions.  The  subject  will  warrant  your 
attention. 

In  February,  1798,  the  Jesuit  priest,  Juan  Pablo 
Vicardo  y  Guzman,  whom  we  have  mentioned  already, 
died  in  London  and  left  with  the  United  States  Min- 
ister there,  Rufus  King,  a  remarkable  paper  urging 
South  American  independence,  in  which  he  says  of 
his  countrymen : — 

[19] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  recent  acquisition  of  independence  by  their 
neighbors  in  North  America  has  made  the  deepest 
impression  on  them. 

It  was  in  the  same  year  that  Miranda  gave  the  fol- 
lowing advice  to  Bernardo  O'Higgins,  afterwards  Presi- 
dent of  Chile,  who  was  about  to  return  to  America : — 

On  leaving  England  do  not  forget  for  a  moment 
there  is  only  one  other  country  in  the  whole  world 
outside  of  that  land,  in  which  a  word  of  politics 
may  be  spoken  other  than  to  the  proved  heart  of 
a  friend ;  and  that  nation  is  the  United  States. 

We  may  wonder — for  we  do  not  know  the  precise 
date  of  the  memorable  interview  above  quoted — 
whether  it  occurred  before  or  after  Miranda  received 
Alexander  Hamilton's  letter  to  him,  of  August  22nd, 
1798,  which  reads  as  follows,  in  part,  regarding 
Miranda's  efforts  toward  obtaining  South  American 
independence : — 

The  sentiments  I  entertain  with  regard  to 
that  object  have  long  since  been  in  your  knowl- 
edge; ....  It  was  my  wish  that  matters  had 
been  ripened  for  a  cooperation  in  the  course  of 
this  fall,  on  the  part  of  this  country;  the  winter, 
however,  may  mature  the  project  and  an  effective 
cooperation  by  the  United  States  may  take  place. 
In  this  case  I  will  be  happy,  in  my  official  station, 
to  be  an  instrument  of  so  good  a  work. 

The  "official  station"  to  which  Hamilton  refers  was 
the  position  he  then  occupied  in  the  United  States 
army. 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

We  have  seen  that  Miranda  was  the  first  South 
American  to  study  at  a  United  States  university,  at 
Yale  in  1784.  One  of  the  many  glories  of  Georgetown 
University  is  the  long  and  distinguished  list  of  Latin- 
Americans  who  have  found  inspiration  within  its  halls. 
They  include  a  president  of  Chile,  the  elder  Errazuriz; 
a  distinguished  Peruvian  cabinet  minister  and  diplo- 
mat, Felix  Cipriano  Coronel  Zegarra;  and  the  list  was 
begun  when  in  1801,  just  after  that  pioneer  of  Pan- 
Americanism,  Thomas  Jefferson,  had  been  inaugurated 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  twenty- 
three  young  Cubans  were  brought  there  by  the  good 
Bishop  Claget,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky. 

From  the  day  when  the   United  States  was  duly 
constituted  as  a  nation,  in  1789,  it  began  to  come  in 
touch  with  the  colonial  power  of  Spain.      Her   rela- 
tions with  Spain  and  the   Spanish  Empire   were  of*"N 
paramount  importance  to  the  first  American  Repub-     \ 
lie.     Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature,  and 
the  United  States'  foreign  relations  were  far  more  im-    V 
portant,  with  reference  to  her  very  national  existence, 
during  the  early  years  of  her  history  than  at  a  later 
date.     Few  realize  to-day  the  extent  and  influence  of 
the  Spanish    Colonial    Empire  in    1800.     It  was  as 
large,  if  not  larger,  than  it  had  been  a  hundred  years 
before.     Only  Jamaica,    Belize,  Trinidad  and   Santo 
Domingo    had    gone.      Louisiana   had   been    gained, 
and  the  English  invasion  of  Porto  Rico  had  been  de- 

[21] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

cisively  repulsed  by  Victor  Hugues,  a  French  colonial 
leader  who  has  never  received  his  due  reward  from 
historians,  at  the  battle  of  Cangrejos  Bay.  King 
George's  forces  had  occupied,  but  had  not  kept, 
Havana  and  Manila.  From  Pensacola  to  Chiloe, 
from  Montevideo  to  California,  the  word  of  the  King 
of  Spain  was  obeyed.  Charles  III  of  Spain  and  the 
Indies,  whose  statue  still  stands  in  Mexico  City,  had 
employed  able  viceroys — Bucareli  in  Mexico,  Amat  y 
Junient  in  Peru,  and  Vertiz  in  Buenos  Aires  compare 
favorably  with  Warren  Hastings,  the  Earl  of  Moira 
and  Marquis  Wellesley  in  India,  or  with  Decaen  and 
Louis,  who  were  Napoleon's  ablest  colonial  govern- 
ors. Explorations  and  expansions  of  the  Empire  had 
taken  place  from  many  colonial  centers.  Malaspina 
had  discovered  glaciers  in  Alaska,  which  still  bear  his 
name.  The  site  of  Chicago  was  occupied  for  awhile 
by  a  Spanish  force  from  St.  Louis  in  1783,  when  for 
a  few  months  Spanish  power  extended  from  Lake 
Michigan  to  Cape  Horn.  Faulkner  and  Biedma  had 
explored  Patagonia,  Boenechea  had  reached  Tahiti, 
and  missionary  priests  had  camped  on  the  shore  of 
the  Great  Salt  Lake  in  Utah.  Spain,  Portugal,  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States  were  the  greatest  Ameri- 
can powers ;  and  the  English  still  looked  on  the  West 
Indies  as  more  preciously  valuable  than  Canada, — 
Canada,  which  had  been  balanced  against  Guadeloupe 
in  1763,  and  which  Voltaire  had  referred  to  as  a  "few 
acres  of  snow." 

[22] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

When  we  realize  that  58.3%  of  the  exports  of 
the  United  States  of  America  in  1801  were  to 
those  parts  of  the  American  continent  which  lay 
south  of  her,  we  can  see  wherein  her  foreign  in- 
terests largely  lay.  Of  the  $46,377,792  worth  of 
merchandise  exported  from  the  United  States  in  that 
year,  21%,  or  $9,699,732,  went  to  the  British  West 
Indies;  19%,  or  $8,969,812,  to  the  Spanish  West  In- 
dies other  than  Honduras  or  Campeche;  15%,  or 
$7,147,972,  to  the  French  West  Indies;  2.2%,  or 
$1,049,361,  to  the  Danish  West  Indies, .and  1.3%,  or 
$625,791,  to  the  Dutch  West  Indies.  In  1800  the 
exports  to  "other  Spanish  West  Indies"  had  been 
almost  equal  to  those  in  the  subsequent  year  — 
$8,993,401.  In  1802  the  first  specification  occurs  of 
exports  to  a  South  American  territorial  division  — 
$1,041  worth  of  goods  to  Brazil,  which  increased  to 
$4,374  in  1807  and  $540,653  worth  in  1809. 

The  last  years  of  the  Spanish  Colonial  Empire  in 
America  were  filled  with  the  struggle  between  the  old 
policy  of  commercial  restrictions  and  the  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  rapidly  developing  commercial  class 
for  not  merely  more  entensive  inter-colonial  relations, 
but  for  wider  ones  with  the  world  at  large.  The  Royal 
Order  of  April  2Oth,  1799,  prohibiting  the  commerce 
of  the  Spanish  dominions  to  vessels  from  neutral  parts 
was  loosely  obeyed,  when  we  study  the  commerce 
between  Philadelphia  and  the  River  Plate  in  that 
year.  We  read  in  the  True  American,  a  daily  news- 

[23] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

paper  of  Philadelphia,  in  its  issue  for  October  I4th, 
1799,  that  the  three  United  States  vessels  which  lay 
at  Montevideo  in  the  spring  of  that  year  were  the  first 
traders  thither.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  were  more 
than  three  vessels  at  Montevideo  in  1799  from  the 
United  States  of  America.  The  ship  "John,"  of  Phil- 
adelphia, sailed  from  the  "River  La  Plata"  on  March 
I4th,  1799,  for  her  home  port;  the  brig  "Rose," 
Captain  John  Meany,  which  arrived  at  Philadelphia 
on  May  29th,  1799,  "in  fifty-seven  days  from  the  Isle 
of  Lobos,  near  the  Falkland  Islands,  and  sometime 
before  from  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,"  had  left  at  Monte- 
video when  she  sailed  thence,  about  April  1st,  1799, 
at  least  three  United  States  vessels, —  the  ship  "Lib- 
erty," Captain  Miller,  of  Philadelphia,  which  arrived 
at  Philadelphia  September  3Oth,  1799;  an  unnamed 
brig  under  Captain  Cronin,  of  Philadelphia,  and  the 
ship  "Diana,"  Captain  Bunker,  of  Baltimore.  Cap- 
tain Meany  stated  that  all  foreign  vessels  had  been 
ordered  out  of  the  several  ports  by  the  Viceroy  (of 
the  Rio  de  la  Plata)  in  thirty  days. 

While  we  are  discussing  Philadelphia  and  the  River 
Plate,  it  is  interesting  to  note  an  advertisement  of 
Buenos  Aires  hides  in  the  Philadelphia  Gazette  for 
January  I2th,  1801,  to  be  sold  from  the  ship  "Con- 
necticut," at  Race  Street  Wharf,  by  James  Crawford 
&  Co.,  and  in  the  same  issue  "First  quality  Caracas 
cocoa,"  Cumana  cotton  and  Santo  Domingo  coffee 
are  advertised. 

[24] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

"His  Majesty  cannot  behold  with  indifference  the 
lack  of  compliance  and  scant  zeal  with  which  his 
sovereign  resolves  are  treated,"  reads  a  Royal  Order 
of  July  1 8th,  1800,  from  a  further  perusal  of  which  we 
learn  that,  among  others,  the  Royal  Order  of  April 
2Oth,  1799,  above  referred  to,  could  not  have  been 
strictly  adhered  to.  "The  scandalous  introduction  of 
all  kinds  of  foreign  commerce  into  his  Majesty's  Pos- 
sessions, chiefly  into  those  of  New  Spain  and  the  prov- 
inces nearby  from  the  United  American  States  and 
Jamaica  and  Brazil,  and  into  those  of  Peru  and  Buenos 
Aires  from  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  from  other  colonies 
near  our  own,"  is  emphasized ;  but  the  exigencies  of 
commerce  gradually  forced  aside  such  prohibitions. 
A  confidential  instruction  to  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos 
Aires  from  the  Spanish  Government,  dated  January 
1 4th,  1 80 1,  reads  as  follows,  in  translation  : — 

EXCELLENCY : 

The  imperative  needs  of  the  Monarchy,  which 
is  in  the  same  calamitous  circumstances  as  those 
from  which  all  Europe  is  suffering,  and  the  indis- 
pensable need  of  meeting  the  obligations  of  the 
Crown,  compel  us  to  make  use  with  all  urgency 
of  all  possible  means  to  meet  such  obligations. 

The  lack  of  capital  existing  in  these  dominions 
for  the  account  of  the  Royal  Treasury,  since  com- 
munication therewith  is  intercepted,  has  suggested 
to  me  the  extraordinary  means  of  establishing 
credit  arrangements  so  that  His  Majesty  may 
reestablish  in  his  Chief  Treasury,  for  which  pur- 

[25] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

pose  the  King  has  just  authorized  the  Treasurer- 
General  to  undertake  such  operations  as  he  may 
deem  proper,  to  obtain  a  prompt  transfer  of  those 
sums  of  money  to  Spain,  by  entering  into  rela- 
tions with  established  houses  in  the  United  States, 
which  will  furnish  the  required  amount  in  money 
or  commodities,  with  assurance  of  their  shipping 
the  equivalent  value  thereof.  In  consequence  of 
this  plan  his  Majesty  has  decided  that  your  Ex- 
cellency shall  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  Treas- 
urer-General all  the  things  which  he  may  need  for 
the  aforementioned  purpose,  and  that  in  conse- 
quence thereof  he  permits  your  Excellency  to 
allow  their  shipment,  either  in  money  or  goods, 
freely,  or  to  cause  them  to  pass  freely  under  your 
Excellency's  orders,  either  in  Anglo-American 
ships  or  under  any  other  neutral  flag,  the  custo- 
mary duties  to  be  paid  in  accordance  with  the 
tariffs  and  orders  which  your  Excellency  has. 

"Anglo-American  Ships,"  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
above,  were  not  by  any  means  unknown  in  the  Vice- 
Royalty  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  They  had  been  in  the 
South  Atlantic  whale  trade  since  1774,  and  on  April 
5th,  1776,  we  find  the  Marquis  of  Sonora  informing 
the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Aires  that  Don  Diego  de  Gar- 
doqui,  then  Spanish  Minister  to  the  United  States, — 
that  same  Gardoqui  who  inspired  young  Belgrano, 
when  in  Spain,  with  visions  of  a  new  and  broader 
freedom  —  and  whose  father's  business  house  had 
aided  the  cause  of  United  States'  independence, — 
had  written  him  under  date  of  February  1st,  1786, 

[26] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

that,  though  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  had 
sent  several  vessels  to  the  Falkland  Island  fisheries  in 
1784,  even  more  had  gone  thither  in  1785,  and  there 
was  fear  of  their  establishing  warehouses  or  depots  on 
that  island  —  almost  a  parallel  case  to  what  later  oc- 
curred in  connection  with  the  Newfoundland  fisheries. 
It  must  have  been  one  of  these  vessels  which  on  its 
return  from  these  whale  fisheries  sometime  about  the 
end  of  the  year  1 796,  when  George  Washington  was 
still  President  and  was  conjuring  his  fellow-citizens  to 
avoid  entangling  foreign  alliances,  that  a  United 
States  bark  called  in  at  Maldonado  to  inform  the  au- 
thorities that  the  establishment  at  Puerto  Deseado  — 
then  the  southernmost  Spanish  outpost  in  the  New 
World  —  was  lacking  supplies.  The  governor  and 
marine  commandant  at  Montevideo  reported  this  to 
his  superior  officer,  the  Viceroy  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata, 
and  asked  his  advice  as  to  whether  the  vessels  of  the 
United  States  of  America  could  sail  the  seas  near  the 
coasts  of  those  provinces;  but  the  King,  through 
Godoy,  the  Prince  of  the  Peace,  decided  in  a  Royal 
Order,  issued  on  May  9th,  1797,  that  such  coasts 
should  remain  unknown  to  every  foreign  power.  This 
did  not  prevent  three  North  American  ships  from  sail- 
ing "to  the  Havannah  between  March  5th,  1799,  and 
May  6th,  1800,  from  Montevideo,"  with  salt  pro- 
visions;* nor  could  this  have  been  wholly  a  one-sided 
trade,  since  the  frigate  "Wilmington"  arrived  at  Mon 

*  Helms,  Travels,  p.  145. 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

tevideo  from  Philadelphia  on  February  1 2th,  1 800,  and 
was  transferred  at  Montevideo  to  the  Spanish  flag. 

The  seventh  volume  of  that  important  source-book 
of  Argentine  history,  entitled  "Documentos  para  la 
Historia  Argentina,"  which  is  ably  edited  by  the  dis- 
tinguished young  Argentine  scholar,  Diego  Luis 
Molinari,  contains  many  valuable  documents  which 
illustrate  the  history  of  this  period.  Document  No. 
109  is  of  particular  interest.  It  is  No.  6369  of  the 
collection  of  manuscripts  in  the  Argentine  National 
Library,  and  appears  to  be  a  part  of  some  other  docu- 
ments. It  is  entitled :  "Memorandum  to  ascertain 
the  just  causes  why  vessels  chartered  by  Nationals 
from  the  Anglo-Americans  should  be  admitted,  con- 
sidering the  Orders  and  exchange  of  opinions  under 
the  application  and  terms  of  the  Royal  Circular  Order 
of  December  18,  1797." 

The  matter  in  question  refers  to  an  order  given 
from  Buenos  Aires  to  the  House  of  the  Indies  at 
Cadiz  to  transfer  the  funds  to  Philadelphia,  where 
credit  had  been  opened  for  a  certain  sum.  Power  of 
attorney  was  given  to  Don  Thomas  O' Gorman,  and 
he  was  instructed  to  buy  goods  and  to  enter  into  con- 
tracts for  the  acquisition  or  loading  of  vessels,  the  ac- 
counts to  be  endorsed  by  the  Spanish  consul  in  Phila- 
delphia. Such  contracts  had  been  duly  entered  into 
for  apparently  more  than  one  vessel  by  O' Gorman. 

It  appeared  that  the  only  neutral  country  which 
I  had  sufficient  merchant  marine  and  conveniently  sit- 

s%  [28] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

uated  harbors  was  the  United  States,  and  that,  owing 
to  the  war  in  Europe,  such  a  measure  was  essential 
in  order  to  maintain  the  commerce  of  the  Spanish- 
American  colonies.  These  ideas  are  substantiated  in 

"      -K   t 

the  circular  of  January  I4th,  1801  (p.  268).^) 

The  first  United  States  vessels  to  reach  Buenos 
Aires  were  the  bark  "James"  of  Boston,  Captain 
Robert  Gray,  and  the  "Superior,"  from  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  both  of  which  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires 
on  April  i8th,  1801.  The  "Superior"  brought  out 
the  first  definite  shipment  of  any  commodity  of  which 
we  have  any  trace  from  the  United  States  to  Buenos 
Aires, —  twelve  cases  of  household  furniture.* 

rip  1 80 1  and  1802,  when  the  nineteenth  century 
began,  eight  of  the  thirteen  maritime  states  —  all  we 
had  then  —  of  America  were  trading  with  almost 
every  commercially  developed  portion  of  the  South 
American  continent.  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland,  and  Virginia  were  sending 
vessels  to  Brazil,  Montevideo,  Buenos  Aires,  Chile 
and  the  Spanish  Main,  Cartagena,  La  Guaira  and 
Porto  CabelloT^  Pan-American  commercial  relations 
had  begun.  During  the  last  two  months  of  1801 
the  commerce  of  the  United  States  of  America 
with  the  American  colonies  of  Spain,  France  and  Por- 
tugal continued  to  be  active.  The  first  issue  of  the 


*See  Telcgrafo  Mercantil^  Buenos  Aires  edition  of  1914,  pp. 
84  and  85. 

[29] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

New  York  Evening  Post,  for  November  i6th,  1801, 
advertises  Demerara  coffee,  and  in  the  same  issue  we 
read  that  the  ship  "Merrimack,"  Captain  Williams, 
bound  from  Salem,  Massachusetts,  to  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  was  spoken  on  the  3Oth  of  September,  1801,  in 
longitude  37°  30',  by  Captain  Rockwell,  of  the  ship 
"Commerce,"  which  arrived  at  New  York  on  Novem- 
ber 1 6th,  1 80 1,  from  Hamburg,  after  a  fifty- three- 
days'  journey. 

The  trade  between  the  north  coast  of  South  Amer- 
ica and  the  Atlantic  coast  ports  of  the  United  States 
was  constant.  On  November  i8th,  1801,  the  brig 
"Abrogail,"  Captain  Tuebner,  arrived  in  New  York 
from  Cayenne  with  a  cargo  of  rocoa,  cloves  and 
leather,  after  a  fifty-three-days'  voyage,  consigned  to 
Champlin  &  Smith.  In  the  issue  of  the  New  York 
Post  for  December  iQth,  1801,  we  read  that  the  ship 
"Edward,"  Captain  Perry,  arrived  at  Vineyard  Haven, 
Massachusetts,  on  December  4th,  1801,  from  the 
coast  of  Chile.  Mr.  Prescott,  a  passenger,  stated  that 
there  were  six  United  States  vessels  at  Mas-a-fuera, 
Chile,  on  August  9th,  1801,  namely:  The  ship 
"Washington,"  Captain  Cole,  from  Miantonomo ; 
the  ship  "Swain,"  of  Norwich;  the  ship  "Concord," 
Captain  Weyer,  of  Salem,  Massachusetts;  the  schooner 
"Nancy,"  Captain  Floyd,  also  of  Salem;  the  ship 
"Perseverance,"  Captain  Delano,  of  Boston,  was  at 
last  accounts  (see  Marvin's  book);  the  schooner 
"Amico,"  Captain  Howe,  of  Norwich,  had  sailed  for 

[30] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

St.  Felix  Island  at  last  accounts;  the  ship  " ," 

Captain  Brown,  of  Providence,  was  at  Valparaiso, 
July  4th,  1801;  the  ship  "Trial,"  Captain  Coffin,  of 
Nantucket,  had  sailed  from  Coquimbo,  August  3rd, 
for  the  Leeward. 

Of  the  ten  vessels  which  cleared  from  Philadelphia 
on  December  2 1st,  1801,  seven  were  bound  for  Latin 
America.  The  ship  "  Escolastica  "  was  for  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata ;  two  were  for  Surinam,  both  brigs,  the 
"Tash,"  Captain  Richards,  and  "George,"  Captain 
Bell.  The  brig  "Jefferson,"  Captain  Bartlett,  cleared 
for  Curacoa ;  two  others  departed  for  Habana  and  one 
for  Cape  Francis,  Hayti.  The  next  day,  December 
22nd,  1 80 1,  two  of  the  three  vessels  that  entered  at 
New  York  City  were  from  the  same  part  of  the  world. 
The  brig  "Fox"  brought  hides,  mahogany,  logwood 
and  sugar  from  Trinidad,  and  the  brig  "Tartar"  sugar, 
coffee  and  cotton  from  Port  Republic,  Hayti.  Both 
were  consigned  to  Isaac  Roget,  of  New  York.  On 
December  28th,  1801,  two  vessels  arrived  at  New 
York  City  from  the  Spanish  Main  —  as  it  was  still 
called  in  the  New  York  newspapers — the  brig 
"Thomas  Pinckney,"  Captain  McFall,  with  coffee, 
cotton  and  indigo  from  La  Guaira,  consigned  to  Wil- 
liam Shaw;  and  the  ship  "Young  Eagle,"  Captain 
Steel,  from  Puerto  Cabello,  with  cocoa  and  tobacco. 

Mr.  Augustine  Madan,  who  had  been  appointed 
United  States  Consul  at  La  Guaira  in  1800,  must 
have  been  kept  busy  with  these  arrivals  and  depar- 

[31] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

tures  of  American  vessels.  When  the  brig  "  Mary," 
Captain  John  O'Connor,  of  New  York,  arrived  at  La 
Guaira,  on  November  26th,  1801,  she  found  that 
flour  was  selling  there  at  $9.00,  United  States  gold,  a 
barrel.  On  December  3Oth,  1801,  the  brig  "Sam- 
son," Captain  Clapp,  arrived  at  New  York  from  Su- 
rinam, in  thirty-seven  days,  with  rum  and  molasses. 
Scarcely  a  single  day  went  by  without  some  ship 
arriving  from  Latin  America ;  nor  was  all  this  busi- 
ness confined  to  the  Island  of  Manhattan.  On  Janu- 
ary 6th,  1 802,  the  New  York  Evening  Post  is  forced 
to  confess  that  not  a  single  vessel  had  that  day  en- 
tered the  port  of  New  York  ;  the  day  before,  however, 
the  ship  "Patapsco,"  Captain  Sims,  had  arrived  at 
Philadelphia  from  Rio  de  Janeiro,  having  sailed  thence 
October  3Oth,  1801,  leaving  there  then  the  ship 
"Rolla,"  of  Boston.  A  few  days  before  the  ship 
"Monticello,"  Captain  Davy,  of  Philadelphia,  had 
sailed  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  for  the  Isle  of  France — 
then  a  French  colony;  now  we  call  it  Mauritius.  On 
November  ipth,  1801,  the  ship  "Mary,"  Captain 
Baucher,  had  arrived  at  Philadelphia  from  Cayenne 
(Evening  Post,  November  2Oth,  1801),  and  reported 
(that  same  day)  the  schooner  "Sarah,"  Captain  Wil- 
lig,  of  Norfolk,  Va.,  had  sailed  from  Cayenne  in  Sep- 
tember, 1 80 1,  for  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  On  November 
1 8th,  1 80 1,  the  schooner  "Polly,"  Captain  May,  ar- 
rived at  Boston  from  La  Guaira,  and  on  November 
9th,  1801,  the  brig  "Ann  Jane,"  Captain  Miller,  ar- 

[32] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

rived  at  Charleston  from  La  Guaira  in  sixteen  days. 
Two  vessels  arrived  at  New  York  from  Surinam  on 
November  24th,  1801,  the  schooner  "Nancy,"  Cap- 
tain Parker,  in  forty  days,  and  the  sloop  "Lucy," 
Captain  Hotchkiss,  in  thirty-eight  days.  Both  car- 
ried molasses;  the  "Lucy"  also  had  "puncheons 
of  rum." 

The  New  York  Evening  Post  for  July  ist,  1802, 
quotes  from  Reif's  Philadelphia  Gazette  a  "remon- 
strance drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  Americans  at 
Buenos  Aires  and  presented  to  the  Governor,"  and 
adds  that  "letters  by  Captain  Logan,  from  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata,  represent  the  situation  of  American  citizens 
and  property  there,  in  terms  the  most  distressing  and 
humiliating."  The  remonstrance  is  dated  March  26th, 
1802,  a  month  and  a  half  after  De  Forest's  arrival  at 
Buenos  Aires  on  February  iQth,  1802.  Captain  Lo- 
gan had  sailed  from  Buenos  Aires  in  the  schooner 
"Thetis"  about  May  2nd,  1802  (Evening  Post,  July 
1 6th,  1802);  according  to  the  New  York  Evening 
Post,  for  July  loth,  1802,  she  did  not  arrive  at  Phila- 
delphia until  July  9th,  1802.  In  the  issue  of  the 
same  paper  for  July  23rd,  1802,  the  following  inter- 
esting document  is  printed  :  — 

FROM  SOUTH  AMERICA 

[Extract  of  a  letter  dated  Buenos  Aires,  May 
5th,  from  the  captain  of  an  American  ship  (char- 
tered in  this  country  to  take  freight  from  that 
place  to  Europe)  to  his  owners  in  Boston.] 

[33] 

4 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  iron  I  brought  for  ballast  was  taken  out  of 
my  ship  by  an  order  from  this  Government,  and 
landed  in  the  Custom-House,  but,  since  that,  it 
has  been  removed  into  a  warehouse,  where  it  still 
remains.  I  have  not  received  pay  for  it  yet,  but 
expect  to.  I  send  you  here  a  duplicate  of  a  cer- 
tificate I  have  sent  before,  of  the  landing  of  the 
iron ;  I  also  send  you  a  copy  of  a  memorial  pre- 
sented to  the  Vice  King  here,  signed  by  those 
Americans  whose  names  you  will  see.  The  Me- 
morial never  has  been  answered  or  noticed.  I 
send  you  also  a  copy  of  a  letter,  lately  sent  to  our 
Minister  at  the  Court  of  Spain,  signed  by  the  same 
[men]  whose  names  are  to  the  Memorial.  I  know 
not  whether  I  shall  meet  your  approbation,  but  I 
could  do  not  other  than  to  join  the  others,  though 
my  situation  in  some  respects  is  different  from 
theirs.  The  treatment  that  I  have  unjustly  experi- 
enced here  from  the  Chiefs  or  Directors  of  Gov- 
ernment would  scarcely  meet  your  belief.  Exclu- 
sive of  the  rascally  detention  I  have  suffered,  I 
have  had  my  seamen  taken  from  on  board  my  ship 
by  order  of  his  Vice  Majesty,  and  put  on  board 
his  armed  vessels  to  cruize  upon  the  coast  and  in 
the  river  to  capture  whatever  American  vessels 
they  fall  in  with !  while  others  of  my  crew  have 
been  enticed  by  Spanish  officers  to  desert  my  ship 
and  leave  me  in  distress.  On  my  making  appli- 
cation to  the  Vice  King  to  have  those  men  sent 
back  to  their  duty,  he  immediately  issued  an  or- 
der for  me  to  pay  them  the  amount  of  their  wages 
and  to  deliver  their  effects,  which  I  promptly  re- 
fused to  do.  All  my  petitions  have  been  disre- 
garded by  this  despotic  officer,  who  has  frequently 

[34] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

threatened  me  with  imprisonment  for  not  paying 
the  wages  of  the  seamen.  Nothing  can  exceed 
his  antipathy  of  the  Americans  and  contempt  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

As  it  has  ever  remained  a  doubt  with  me  how 
long  I  shall  be  detained  here  I  could  do  no  other 
than  to  join  with  my  unfortunate  countrymen 
here,  praying  for  the  interference  of  our  own 
Government. 

Various  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America  at 
Buenos  Aires  had  addressed  a  complaint  to  Charles 
Pinckney,  the  United  States  Minister  to  Spain,  on 
April  22nd,  1802,  concerning  the  difficulties  which 
the  local  authorities  were  creating  for  them.  The 
petition  read  as  follows :  — 

SIR: 

Weary  of  individual  exertion  in  pursuit  of  that 
redress  which  our  treatment  in  this  country  so 
loudly  demands,  we  feel  ourselves  compelled  to 
resort  for  it  to  the  interference  and  influence  of 
the  American  Government. 

It  is  with  much  satisfaction  we  find  that  you  are 
the  diplomatic  agent  of  the  United  States,  near  the 
Court  of  Spain,  and  we  look  forward  with  confi- 
dence in  your  well-tried  patriotism,  for  an  appli- 
cation for  justice  from  the  court. 

The  inclosed  memorial,  lately  presented  by  us 
collectively  to  the  Government  here,  will  furnish 
you  with  a  general  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  griev- 
ance we  have  suffered.  We  must  defer  transmit- 
ting to  you,  till  we  have  time  to  collect  and 

[35] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

arrange  them,  and  are  able  to  procure  the  docu- 
ments necessary  to  substantiate  their  truth.  In 
the  meantime  we  conceive  it  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  the  final  success  of  our  respective 
claims  that  the  Court  of  Spain  be  prepared  for 
their  formal  reception,  and  that  all  improper  in- 
trigue on  the  part  of  the  wrongdoers  here  may  be 
defeated. 

We  are  the  more  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
an  early  attention  to  these  points,  by  the  depar- 
ture from  the  Province  of  Don  Francisco  del  Pino, 
the  beginning  of  the  present  month,  for  Spain. 
He  is  the  son  of  the  Vice  King  and  we  have  good 
reason  to  believe  goes  charged  with  his  father  to 
make  representations  to  the  Spanish  Court,  unjust 
in  themselves  and  extremely  hostile  to  us. 

The  conduct  of  the  Vice  King  here,  indeed, 
stands  in  need  of  a  special  and  confidential  agent 
for  its  justification,  a  conduct  marked  by  the  mean 
and  mercenary  spirit  of  plunder  on  one  hand  and  a 
shameful  neglect  or  ignorance  of  duty  on  the  other. 

While  his  Vice  Majesty  has  his  whole  family  on 
the  alert  for  the  discovery  and  seizure  of  some  petty 
packages  of  contraband,  he  basely  suffered  our 
enemy  of  inferior  force  to  enter  this  Province  and 
strip  the  King,  his  master,  of  towns  and  territory. 
With  regard  to  us,  he  has,  if  possible  acted  still 
more  unworthily.  All  our  petitions,  whether  in- 
dividual or  collective,  have  been  passed  over  with 
silent  contempt.  Hospitality  and  justice  have 
been  denied  us,  and  our  persons  and  our  property 
have  been  the  sport  of  the  most  wanton  tyranny. 
Where  he  dares  not  oppress  us  by  an  active 
cruelty,  he  unfeelingly  ruins  us  by  delay,  and  when 

[36] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

he  cannot  reach  us  directly  by  his  injustice,  he 
aims  it  indirectly  by  the  encouraging  or  compel- 
ling individuals  to  violate  their  contracts  with  us. 

The  Government  of  Montevideo  has  not  only 
been  his  able  conductor,  in  these  ungenerous  and 
unjust  proceedings,  but  has  ever  appeared  to  place 
an  ambition  to  excelling  him. 

They  shall  address  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  concerning  these  grievances  and 
injuries ;  in  the  meantime,  we  doubt  not  you  will 
do  everything  in  our  behalf,  consistent  with  your 
official  situation. 

Mr.  Titus  Welles,  who  will  havevthe  honor  to 
deliver  this  letter,  is  a  gentleman  well  acquainted 
with  the  affairs  of  his  unfortunate  countrymen  in 
these  ports,  and  fully  competent  to  answer  every 
inquiry  on  the  subject 

To  him  we  beg  leave  to  refer  you,  and  are  with 
sentiment  of  the  highest  consideration  and  re- 
spect, Sir,  your  most  obedient  and  humble  servants. 

[Signed]  Thomas  O'Reilly,  Caleb  Loring,  John 
Ansley,  Josiah  Roberts,  Robert  Gray, 
Moses  Griffin,  Daniel  McPherson,  John 
Grant,  Josiah  Gould,  Daniel  Olney  and 
William  Todd,  Jr. 

On    August    1 5th,    1802,    Minister    Pinckney   re- 
ported to  the  Department  of  State  that: — 

To  these  considerable  claims  for  captures  are  to 
be  added  all  our  other  claims  arising  from  the  ex- 
cesses of  individuals  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations 
or  the  treaty  [of  1795  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain],  which  I  am  informed  are  to  an  amaz- 
ing amount,  particularly  from  South  America.  On 

[37] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

the  latter  subject,  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  ob- 
tain exact  accounts,  but  from  every  information  I 
have  received,  and  particularly  from  a  gentleman 
who  brought  me  a  letter  from  you  [this  appar- 
ently refers  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  James  Madi- 
son] and  who  has  lately  been  in  that  country,  I 
learn  that  the  claims  which  our  citizens  have,  are 
so  great  as  to  amount  to  a  sum  of  not  less  than 
five  millions  of  dollars,  and  he  believes  probably 
eight  millions ;  most  of  which  he  thinks,  from  a 
knowledge  of  their  peculiar  circumstances,  may 
be  arbitrated  under  this  convention  [which  Pinck- 
ney  was  then  negotiating  with  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment], the  wording  of  which  I  showed  him  in 
confidence,  in  order  that  I  might  determine  how 
far  it  was  sufficiently  general  to  include  every 
case,  within  his  knowledge,  which  might  be  said 
to  be  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nations  and  the  ex- 
isting treaty.* 

By  the  fifth  clause  of  the  ninth  article  of  the  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain  in  1819,  by 
which  Florida  was  finally  ceded  to  the  United  States 
of  America,  the  United  States  Government  renounced 
to  Spain:  — 

All  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon 
the  Spanish  Government,  statements  of  which,  so- 
liciting the  interposition  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  have  been  presented  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  State,  or  to  the  Minister  of  the  United 
States  in  Spain,  since  the  date  of  the  convention 
of  1 802  and  until  the  signature  of  the  treaty. 


Annals  of  Congress,  Volume  XII,  p.  948. 
[38] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  following  were  the  United  States  vessels  which 
called  at  the  River  Plate  ports  in  1801  and  1802,  so 
far  as  can  be  ascertained  : — 

Name  of  Vessel  Captain  and  Home  Port  In  Ri-ver  Plate 

1.  Alexandria Griffin,  Philadelphia April  22,  1802 

2.  America Swain,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

3.  Antelope Rich,  Boston May  20,  1802 

4.  Aurora Thompson,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

5.  Canton Willis,  Philadelphia July  15,  1802 

6.  Cumberland Mackey,  Boston  May  20,  1802 

7.  Eliza Caleb  Loving,  Boston April  22,  1802 

8.  Enterprise Wilcox,  Connecticut May  20,  1802 

9.  Fair William  Todd,  Jr.,  Boston . .  April  22,  1802 

10.  Five  Brothers  . .  .Breck,  Boston -. . . .  May  20,  1802 

11.  Hannibal Jenkins,  Providence May  20,  1802 

12.  Holland ,  Martha's  Vineyard. .  .July  — ,  1802 

13.  James Robert  Gray,  Boston April  18,  1801 , 

to  May  20,  1802 

14.  Joseph John  Grant,  Kennebunk April  22,  1802 

15.  Louisa Moffatt,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

16.  Mary Norton,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

17.  Mary  Ann Daniel  Olney,  Providence. .  .May  20,  1802 

18.  Mercury Parsons,  Boston May  20,  1802 

19.  Merrimack Williams,  Boston May  20,  1802 

20.  Minerva Hall,  Boston May  20,  1802 

21.  Molly Harding,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

22.  Montezuma Isaac  Isaacs,  Boston April  22,  1802 

23.  Olive Conklin,  New  York May  20,  1802 

24.  Oliver  Ellsworth.—    — ,  New  York July  15,  1802 

25.  Prudence Paddock,  Boston 

26.  Phoenix Cottole,  Boston May  20,  1802 

27.  Phoenix Josiah  Roberts,  Boston April  22,  1802 

28.  Pigou Collett,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

29.  Resolution Olney,  Boston May  20,  1802 

30.  Rosebud Peese,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

31.  Rio Stevens,  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  .May  20,  1802 

32.  Rising  Sun Josiah  Gould,  Boston    April  22.  1802 

[39] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

33.  Rolla Arnold,  Providence May  20,  1802 

34.  Rose Miller,  Philadelphia May  20,  1802 

35.  Ruby B.  Hoey,  Philadelphia July  15,  1802 

36.  Sally Daniel  McPherson April  22,  1802 

37.  Sally Taylor,  Boston May  20,  1802 

38.  Success Conklin,  New  York May  20,  1802 

39.  Sultan Cole,  Boston April  20,  1802 

40.  Superior ,  Providence April  18,  1801 

41.  Thetis Logan,  Philadelphia May  2,  1802 

42.  Three  Sisters John  Ansley,  Philadelphia.  .April  22,  1802 

43.  Washington Williamson,  Philadelphia  . . .  Feb.  10,  1802 

44.  Yankee Kilbourn,  Connecticut May  20,  1802 

Thus  in  the  year  1 802  forty-four  vessels  from  seven 
of  the  seventeen  states  which  then  comprised  the 
United  States  of  America  —  seven  of  the  thirteen 
maritime  states,  to  make  it  more  effective — were  trad- 
ing with  Buenos  Aires.  Of  these  forty-four  vessels, 
twenty-one  were  from  Boston ;  one  from  Cape  Ann ; 
one  from  Kennebunk,  then  also  in  Massachusetts; 
fifteen  from  Philadelphia ;  four  from  Providence ;  two 
from  New  York  ;  two  from  Connecticut,  and  one  from 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.  Yet  another  vessel  appeared  to 
have  arrived  a  little  later,  as  we  read  in  the  issue  of  the 
New  York  Evening  Post  for  July  Hth,  1802,  a  quota- 
tion from  the  Boston  Gazette,  being  an  "  Extract  of  a 
letter  from  an  American  Gentleman  of  Respectability 
at  Buenos  Aires,  South  America,  to  his  friend  at  Bos- 
ten,  dated  April  17,  1802,"  which  reads  in  part: — 

It  is  suggested  that  several  of  the  American 
frigates  are  to  be  ordered  to  the  River  Plate,  to 
release  the  shipping  belonging  to  this  country, 

[40] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

detained  there  by  order  of  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment Some  of  these  vessels  are  Indiamen,  which 
put  in  there  in  distress  last  March ;  others  that 
sailed  from  Boston  and  other  ports  in  the  United 
States,  in  consequence  of  contracts  made  with 
merchants  under  a  guarantee  of  security  from  that 
Governmennt 

An  analysis  shows  that  some  of  these  vessels  had 
apparantly  been  detained  for  some  time  at  Buenos 
Aires.  The  "James"  had  arrived  there  from  Boston 
on  April  i8th,  1801,  and  we  know  that  De  Forest  on 
his  arrival  there  on  February  roth,  1802",  found  twelve 
American  ships  at  Montevideo  and  twenty  at  Buenos 
Aires,  including  the  "Washington,"  of  Philadelphia. 
On  August  1st,  1 80 1,  the  prohibition  against  the 
United  States'  vessels  coming  or  trading  to  Buenos 
Aires  was  repeated,  reiterating  the  Royal  Spanish  pro- 
hibition of  April  2Oth,  1799,  to  that  effect. 

On  July  28th,  1801,  Alejandro  Duran  addressed 
a  petition  to  the  Royal  Consulate  of  Buenos  Aires  to 
bring  four  or  six  master  cutters — "Master  workmen, 
Catholic  Irishmen,  who  abound  in  North  America" — 
from  the  United  States  to  establish  a  tannery  for  all 
kinds  of  leather  in  Buenos  Aires.  This  was  approved 
by  the  Junta,  Manuel  Belgrano  being  then  Secretary 
thereof.  Duran  further  stated  that  he  had  37,820 
pesos  in  New  York,  "as  is  stated  in  accompanying 
papers."  In  this  connection  the  following  document 
is  of  interest:  "It  is  interesting  to  note  that  it  was 
proposed  to  open  a  credit  in  Philadelphia  for  the  Vice- 

[41] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

royalty  of  Buenos  Aires  in  1799-1800  through  Thomas 
O' Gorman,  who  was  then  in  that  city,  and  who  seems 
to  have  actually  contracted  for  the  freighting  of  cer- 
tain United  States  merchant  vessels  there  to  relieve 
the  scarcity  of  bottoms  in  the  River  Plate  trade."  * 

The  Louisiana  purchase  of  1 803  directed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  United  States  of  America  more  and  more 
to  the  Latin  colonies,  as  they  then  were,  of  the  New 
World.  An  Act  of  Congress  of  February  24th,  1804, 
privileged  French  and  Spanish  ships  and  "those  of 
their  colonies"  in  the  ports  of  Louisiana  for  twelve 
years  from  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  the  Lou- 
isiana treaty, — a  commercial  measure  of  freedom 
which  the  growing  mercantile  intercourse  of  the 
countries  of  the  New  World  were  not  slow  to  avail 
themselves  of. 

On  March  4th,  1805,  the  New  York  Evening  Post 
printed  a  letter  from  Hamburg,  dated  December  4th, 
1804,  which  said  in  part:  "Could  a  cargo  of  linens  be 
sent  out  to  Buenos  Aires  and  one  of  hides  be  got  in 
return,  it  would  make  a  very  successful  voyage."  The 
"Antelope,"  Captain  Pittmam,  arrived  at  New  York 
from  La  Guaira  on  May  6th,  1805,  in  twenty-five 
days — a  record  beaten  three  weeks  later,  when  the 
"Lively,"  Captain  Van  Allen,  made  the  same  voyage 
in  fourteen  days.  On  July  I5th,  1805,  there  were 
three  brigs  and  one  schooner  flying  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  at  Cayenne,  French  Guiana. 


*"Documentos  para  la  Historia  Argentina,  VII,  pp.  174,  175. 
[42] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Before  we  begin  to  consider  in  detail  the  two  Pan- 
American  events  of  the  year  1806  which  are  most 
generally  remembered,  it  may  be  well  to  quote  the 
following  extract  from  the  Introduction  written  by 
Samuel  Latham  Mitchill  to  De  Pon's  "History  of 
Venezuela,"  published  in  1806, — which,  by  the  way, 
was  one  of  the  first  books  of  so  comprehensive  a  nature 
published  in  the  United  States  of  America  on  a  Latin- 
American  country : — 

For  the  seasonableness  and  importance  of  a 
work,  written  with  the  ability  manifested  in  every 
part  of  this,  on  the  Province  of  South  America, 
belonging  to  the  Captain-Generalship  of  the  Ca- 
racas, cannot  fail  to  recommend  it  to  the  notice 
of  statesmen,  merchants,  and  the  lovers  of  general 
knowledge. 

This  is  the  first  occasion  on  which  we  find  Mitchill 
interested  in  Latin-American  matters;  an  interest  which 
was  to  lead  to  important  consequences,  as  we  shall 
see  later. 

That  such  an  expedition  as  that  of  Francisco  de 
Miranda  from  New  York  City  to  Venezuela  in  1806, 
to  endeavor  to  free  that  country  from  Spain,  had  been 
anticipated  by  the  world  at  large  is  shown  by  a  re- 
markable letter  from  the  French  explorer  and  scien- 
tist, Peron,  to  Charles  Decaen,  the  Governor  of  Mau- 
ritius, or  the  Isle  of  France  as  it  was  then  called,  of  the 
twentieth  Frimaire  Year  XII  (i  ith  of  December,  1803 
in  which  he  foresees  an  insurrection  of  the  Spanish 

[43] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

colonies  in  America,  and  gives  a  somewhat  detailed 
account  of  the  probability  thereof. 

On  February  2nd,  1806,  Miranda  sailed  from  New 
York  with  his  little  expedition  on  the  ship  "Leander." 
He  had  previously  endeavored  to  enlist  the  service  of 
Petion,  then  prominent  in  what  is  now  the  Dominican 
Republic,  thus  showing  that  his  efforts  were  not  con- 
fined to  his  native  country  alone.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  know  who  wrote  an  article  in  the  Richmond 
Inquirer  early  in  the  year  1806,  which  is  quoted  in 
the  Federal  Gazette  for  March  4th  of  that  year.  It 
stated  that  if  Miranda  was  successful,  that  "a  new  con- 
federation of  states  might  start  into  existence";  and 
that  as  its  people  became  more  free  and  enlightened, 
"the  United  States  of  South  America,  like  the  United 
States  of  the  North,  will  represent  to  admiring  Europe 
another  republic,  independent,  confederated,  and 
happy."  The  failure  of  Miranda's  attempt  to  land 
near  Puerto  Cabello  on  April  2/th,  1806,  which  led 
to  its  complete  failure  and  the  imprisonment  in  hor- 
rible dungeons  of  many  of  the  young  citizens  of  the 
United  States  who  took  part  therein,  including  a 
grandson  of  President  John  Adams,  Moses  Smith,  did 
not  deter  that  intrepid  leader  from  attempting  another 
invasion  of  Venezuela  on  July  2/th,  on  which  occa- 
sion the  "Leander"  was  accompanied  by  the  American 
brig  "Commodore  Barry."  This  expedition  failed, 
although  every  effort  was  made  to  arouse  the  people 
of  Venezuela  to  insurrection,  and  the  Jesuit  Vicardo 

[44] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

y  Guzman's  letter,  to  which  we  have  alluded  above, 
was  distributed  in  that  country. 

William  S.  Smith,  the  father  of  the  young  Moses 
Smith,  said:  "With  respect  to  my  son,  he  was  not 
made  acquainted  with  the  plans  of  General  Miranda; 
he  went  with  him  as  a  young  companion,  to  share  his 
fortunes  and  his  fate ;  he  was  accompanied  by  some  of 
his  friends,  capable  of  deeds  of  hardihood  and  valour — 
worthy  their  leader,  worthy  his  cause." 

Some  idea  of  the  assistance  rendered  by  the  United 
States  of  America  to  these  expeditions  of  Miranda  in 
1806  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  translation 
of  an  extract  from  an  official  dispatch  from  the  Spanish 
Government  to  the  American  legation  at  Madrid, 
dated  June2nd,  1806,  complaining  of  this  assistance: — 

The  arms,  the  munitions  of  war,   and  the  re- 
bellious persons  who  were  preparing to 

attack  a  part  of  the  Dominion  of  the  King  in 
American  ships,  with  American  crews,  and  sailors 
on  board,  as  well  as  sons  and  relatives  of  persons 
employed  by  the  American  Government,  was  be- 
ing arranged  in  New  York ;  the  boats  were  insured 
in  an  American  company. 

In  the  spring  of  1807  the  portraits  of  Washington 
and  Miranda  were  found,  among  others,  on  a  hand- 
kerchief of  English  manufacture  near  the  place  where 
Miranda  had  landed  in  Venezuela. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  give  a  detailed 
account  of  the  life  of  any  of  the  great  South  American 

[45] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

leaders  of  the  War  of  Independence,  so  we  will  merely 
mention  that  Simon  Bolivar  was  at  the  impressionable 
age  of  twenty-three  when  he  landed  in  Boston  in  Oc- 
tober, 1806.  After  visiting  the  battlefields  of  Lex- 
ington and  Concord,  he  passed  through  New  York, 
visited  Philadelphia  and  spent  several  days  in  Wash- 
ington, where  he  probably  met  President  Jefferson,  and 
sailed  from  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  some  time  in 
January  1807,  to  Venezuela  by  way  of  the  West  In- 
dies, after  having  obtained  a  clearer  idea  at  first  hand 
of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Captain  Campbell  of  the  American  schooner  "  Mary" 
arrived  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on  December 
1 9th,  1806,  after  a  passage  of  seventy-six  days  from 
Montevideo.  When  he  left  that  port  on  October  3rd, 
1806,  there  were  five  United  States  ships  there — two 
from  Charleston,  two  from  New  York,  and  one  from 
Boston.  Mr.  Gilbert  Deblois,  of  Boston,  arrived  at 
New  York  on  January  I5th,  1807,  from  Montevideo, 
via  Cayenne.  He  had  left  Montevideo  on  October 
25th,  1806,  and  gave  out  an  interesting  interview  in 
New  York  on  the  British  invasion  of  Buenos  Aires. 
William  P.  White,  a  native  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  had 
come  to  Buenos  Aires  as  early  as  1804;  and  George 
Washington's  Farewell  Address  was  known  there 
in  1805,  less  than  ten  years  after  it  was  delivered. 
General  Belgranp  tells  us  that  it  came  into  his  hands 
in  that  year.  V  In  1 808,  of  the  seventy-nine  foreigners 
who  were  then  living  in  Chile,  nine  were  citizens  of  the 

[46] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

United  States  of  America,  five  of  whom  were  at  Sana— 
tiago,  three  at  Talcuahuano,  and  one  at  CopannaJ 
The  Argentine  historian,  Bartolome  Mitre,  notes  that 
even  before  United  States  Consul-General  Poinsett 
arrived  in  Chile  in  1812,  vague  notions  of  independ- 
ence and  republicanism  had  been  spread  abroad  in 
that  country  through  business  men  and  whalers  from 
the  United  States  of  America,  the  whalers  being  called 
"Boston  men,"  as  many  came  thence.  In  1807  An- 
drew Sterett,  of  Baltimore,  several  of  whose  family 
have  since  been  prominent  in  Pan-Americans  affairs, 
died  at  Lima,  Peru,  where  he  had  been  engaged  in 
business.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  naval  officers  of 
the  United  States  of  America.which  has  named  a 
torpedo  boat  destroyer  after  him.  ^ 

Probably  the  most  prominent  among  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  of  America  who  were  then  in 
Buenos  Aires  was  David  C.  De  Forest  (1771-1825); 
he  was  certainly  the  first  one  to  call  the  attention  of 
his  country's  government  to  the  need  of  its  represen- 
tation in  that  city,  which  had  about  45,000  inhabitants 
at  that  time.  De  Forest  is  characterized  by  the  Ar- 
gentine annalist  Zinny  as  "that  worthy  American, 
whose  portrait  exists  [1875]  in  the  University  of 
Buenos  Aires,  and  who  acquired  an  honorable  position 
in  that  city,  which  gave  him  that  distinction."  On 
October  4th,  1807,  he  addressed  a  long  letter  from 
Buenos  Aires  to  Secretary  James  Madison,  in  which 
he  speaks  of  ships  under  the  colors  of  the  United 

[47] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

States  of  America  constantly  visiting  Buenos  Aires 
(this  is  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  contempo- 
raries, in  Mitre's  History  of  General  Belgrano),  and 
urges  the  appointment  of  a  commercial  agent  or  con- 
sul of  the  United  States  of  America  at  that  place, 
which  addition  he  presumed  would  be  "highly  pleas- 
ing to  the  inhabitants,  and  sufficiently  countenanced 
by  this  government  to  answer  all  the  purposes  for 
which  he  would  be  admitted,  although  the  laws  would 
not  allow  of  his  being  formally  admitted."  The  refer- 
ence is  to  the  Spanish  law  of  April  24th,  1807,  pro- 
hibiting the  residence  of  foreign  consuls  in  the  Spanish 
colonial  dominions  of  America.  The  "Reconquista," 
or  reconquest  of  Buenos  Aires  from  the  English  by 
the  inhabitants  of  that  city  and  their  army  under 
Liniers,  had  occurred  just  three  months  before  De 
Forest's  letter,  on  July  5th,  1807.  William  P.  White, 
the  citizen  of  the  United  States  of  America  to  whom 
we  have  recently  alluded,  was  appointed  by  General 
Whitelocke  as  commissary,  or  agent  for  the  British 
prisoners  remaining  in  the  River  Plate  country. 

The  New  York  Evening  Post  for  Monday,  February 
1 7th,  1806,  notes  that  the  United  States  brig  "Ann 
and  Frances,"  Captain  King,  had  just  arrived  from 
the  River  Plate  in  eighty-six  days,  and  the  issue  for 
November  I7th,  1806,  states  that  the  United  States 
schooner  "Sophrona,"  Captain  Warren,  had  cleared 
that  day  for  Buenos  Aires  from  New  York  City.  In 
the  meantime  the  ship  "Hanover"  arrived  from  the 

[48] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

coast  of  Patagonia  with  a  cargo  of  elephant  oil  at  New 
Bedford,  Massachuseets,  on  May  i8th,  1806.  In 
Gore's  Liverpool,  England,  Advertiser  for  September 
25th,  1806,  the  United  States  brig  "Albion,"  Captain 
Littlefield,  is  advertised  to  sail  for  the  River  Plate, 
and  three  other  United  States  merchant  vessels  —  the 
"Intrepid,"  Captain  Trumbull;  the  "Lady  Carleton," 
Captain  Ritchie;  and  the  "Lancaster,"  Captain  Grif* 
fin  —  were  about  to  sail  from  Liverpool  for  Buenos 
Aires.  On  October  4th,  1 806,  Captain  Stephens  ar- 
rived in  Boston  direct  from  San  Sebastian,  Brazil,  and 
reported  that  Sir  Home  Popham  had  arrived  at  Mon- 
tevideo. On  November  I3th,  1806,  the  ship  "Ben- 
gal," Captain  Koven,  cleared  from  New  York  to 
Buenos  Aires ;  it  belonged  to  the  New  York  firm  of 
LQW  &  Wallace.  The  New  York  Evening  Post  for 
November  7th,  1807,  reprints  General  Whitelock's 
order  of  July  loth,  1807,  at  Buenos  Aires,  and  from 
later  issues  of  the  same  paper  we  learn  that  on  No- 
vember 8th,  1807,  the  United  States  brig  "Pallas" 
arrived  at  Boston  from  the  River  Plate.  She  had  left 
Montevideo  on  August  I4th,  1807.  David  C.  De 
Forest  was  there  then.  He  had  arrived  at  Buenos 
Aires  on  February  loth,  1802,  coming  overland  from 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  Brazil.  There  were  then  twelve 
American  ships  at  Montevideo  and  twenty  at  Buenos 
Aires.  On  November  9th,  1807,  the  United  States 
ship  "Arrow,"  Captain  Fletcher,  of  Newburyport,  ar- 
rived at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  from  Montevideo, 

[49] 

5 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

having  left  that  city  on  the  previous  September  8th. 
She  carried  a  valuable  cargo  of  the  productions  of 
South  America.  On  November  25th,  1807,  the 
United  States  ship  "Palmyra,"  whose  captain  was 
named  Whitney,  arrived  at  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina, from  Montevideo,  after  a  voyage  of  seventy-three 
days.  The  United  States  ship  "Olive  Branch,"  of 
Boston,  had  arrived  at  Montevideo  two  days  before 
the  "Palmyra"  sailed  from  that  port,  and  the  United 
States  brig  "Union,"  Captain  Hussey,  of  Nantucket, 
had  sailed  from  Montevideo  for  the  Rio  Negro  on  the 
coast  of  Patagonia  (presumably  for  whaling  for  "ele- 
phant oil,"  as  the  "Hanover,"  of  New  Bedford,  had 
done  the  year  previous),  shortly  before  the  "Palmyra" 
had  left  the  River  Plate.  The  "Palmyra"  had  also 
left  five  United  States  merchant  vessels  at  Montevideo, 
namely  the  brig  "Eliza  Carey"  from  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  which  was  about  to  sail  for  Botany 
Bay;  the  ship  "Olive  Branch,"  previously  mentioned, 
whose  captain  was  named  King;  the  ship  "Print," 
Captain  Dixey,  which  was  all  ready  to  sail  for  Boston  ; 
and  a  ship  commanded  by  Captain  Tibbetts,  of  Wis- 
casset  (now  in  Maine,  then  in  Massachusetts),  which 
was  detained  by  a  Spanish  privateer  in  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata.  The  schooner  "Sophronia,"  Captain  Warren, 
of  New  York,  as  well  as  a  Philadelphia  ship,  had 
shortly  before  sailed  for  home,  intending  to  stop  on 
the  Brazil  coast;  we  have  seen  above  that  she  had 
left  New  York  for  Buenos  Aires  on  November  iyth, 

[50] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

1806.  The  ship  "George  and  Mary,"  of  Newport 
News,  Virginia,  had  sailed  on  August  I3th,  1807, 
from  Buenos  Aires  to  London. 

Thus  in  the  year  1807  there  were  merchant  vessels 
from  five  of  the  thirteen  maritime  states  that  then 
constituted  the  United  States  of  America — Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode  Island,  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia — doing  business  in  the  River  Plate  countries; 
and  there  was  also  traffic  with  a  sixth  state,  South 
Carolina,  to  which  several  vessels  returned  from  River 
Plate  ports ;  so  we  can  say  that  half  the  maritime  and 
a  third  of  the  total  number  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  1807  had  some  interest  in  the  River  Plate 
trade.  Even  the  evacuating  British  squadron,  on 
their  way  back  to  England  from  Buenos  Aires,  fell  in 
with  the  United  States  brig  "Sally,"  Captain  Barry, 
bound  from  Barcelona  to  Philadelphia.  So  that  one 
hundred  and  ten  years  ago,  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
was  not  an  unfamiliar  sight  in  the  River  Plate — while 
Liniers  was  at  the  height  of  his  power,  three  years 
before  the  first  step  toward  Argentine  independence 
had  been  initiated.  In  fact,  at  least  one  citizen  of 
the  United  States  seems  to  have  had  direct  relations 
with  Liniers;  for  the  "Palmyra"  reported  she  left  De 
Forest  in  Montevideo,  he  having  obtained  "liberty 
from  General  Liniers  to  attend  to  one  or  two  suits  of 
law  that  were  pending,"  as  the  contemporary  reporter 
of  the  New  York  Evening  Post  phrased  it.  De  Forest 
was  by  no  means  the  only  one  of  his  countrymen  to 

[51] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

remain  in  Montevideo;  Messrs.  Blodget  and  Childs, 
of  Baltimore,  continued  there  under  the  privilege 
granted  to  them  by  the  court  of  Spain,  though  Mr. 
Wykman,  of  New  York,  had  taken  passage  on  an 
English  ship  for  Surinam.  The  "Palmyra"  brought 
back  to  Charleston  a  large  quantity  of  English  goods, 
with  which  the  River  Plate  market  had  been  glutted 
after  the  British  occupation  of  Buenos  Aires  and 

Montevideo. 
f( 

In  the  year  1808  the  Englishman  W.  Burke  wrote 
lat  the  United  States  would  emancipate  South 
America  if  England  or  France  did  not,  or  if  the  South 
Americans  did  not  do  it  by  their  own  efforts ;  and  in 
the  same  year  President  Thomas  Jefferson  wrote  to 
Governor  Claiborne  of  the  territory  of  Orleans,  at 
New  Orleans,  as  follows,  speaking  of  Cuba  and 
Mexico :  — 

We  consider  their  interests  and  ours  as  the 
same,  and  the  object  of  both  must  be  to  exclude 
all  European  influence  from  this  hemisphere. 

Jefferson  again  alludes  to  this  idea  in  his  letter  to 
President  Madison  of  April  2/th,  1809,  in  which  he 
speaks  of  Napoleon's  consenting  to  the  United  States 
"  receiving  Cuba  into  our  Union  to  prevent  our  aid 
to  Mexico  and  the  other  provinces";  thus  alluding  to 
that  assistance  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  of 
America  to  Latin  America  which  was  discussed  by 
Congressman  James  Holland,  of  North  Carolina,  in  the 
United  States  Congress  on  June  Hth,  1808,  in  the 

[52] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

course  of  a  debate  to  appropriate  money  for  the  relief 
of  the  prisoners  held  in  Venezuela  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  Miranda  expedition  of  1806  :  — 

Sir,  had  I  been  a  young  man,  and  had  nothing 
else  to  engage  in,  I  should  myself  have  been  happy 
to  join  in  a  number  of  brave  fellows  in  emanci- 
pating an  enslavened  country — and  the  provinces 
of  South  America  are  in  a  miserable  situation,  and 
there  is  no  danger  of  worsting  them  by  the 
change 

If  they  had  succeeded  in  their  attempt  and  lib- 
erated the  provinces  (and  I  hope  they  will  soon 
become  free  provinces),  they  would  have  been 
considered  the  benefactors  of  mankind ;  they 
would  have  received  the  thanks  of  all  the  friends 
of  humanity ;  but,  poor  fellows !  they  were  de- 
feated. In  going  with  a  design  to  revolutionize 
the  Caracas,  they  might  have  gone  with  patri- 
otic motives. 

Congressman  Joseph  Pearson,  of  North  Carolina, 
also  spoke,  urging  the  appropriation,  which  was 
finally  lost  by  a  tie  vote.  In  the  course  of  the  dis- 
cussion, which  took  up  two  entire  days  of  the  time  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  it  appeared  that  thirty  young  citizens  of 
that  republic  had  taken  part  in  Miranda's  expedition, 
and  that  Miranda  himself  had  been  a  guest  of  Presi- 
dent Jefferson  at  his  table  in  the  White  House. 

On  March  /th,  1809,  Thomas  Sumter,  of  South 
Carolina,  was  appointed  United  States  Minister  to  the 
Portuguese  Court,  which  had  been  residing  at  Rio  de 

[53] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Janeiro,  Brazil,  since  1807,  when  the  Portuguese 
royal  family  had  been  expelled  from  continental  Por- 
tugal by  Napoleon's  armies.  Sumter  continued  as 
Minister  to  Brazil  until  July  24th,  1819.  It  was  ap- 
parently between  January  and  June,  1809,  that  a 
"seditious  proclamation"*  was  circulated  in  Buenos 
Aires  (it  was  sent  to  the  Brigadier  of  the  Royal  Navy, 
Joachim  de  Molina,  who  was  then  in  Lima,  Peru,  on 
June  loth,  1809),  one  of  the  paragraphs  of  which 
reads  as  follows : — 

The  valor  with  which  the  English  Colonies  of 
America  fought  for  their  freedom,  which  they  now 
gloriously  enjoy,  covers  our  indolence  with  shame. 
We  have  yielded  them  the  palm  with  which  they 
have  crowned  the  New  World  with  an  indepen- 
dent sovereignty.  Even  France  and  Spain  made 
efforts  to  sustain  them.  The  valor  of  those 
valiant  Americans  puts  our  lack  of  feeling  to 
shame ;  they  and  England  will  protest  the  most 
just  cause  of  our  honor,  provoked  by  outrages 
which  have  lasted  for  three  hundred  years. 

This  reads  very  much  like  an  adaptation  of  the  circu- 
lar letter  of  the  Peruvian  Jesuit  father,  Vicardo  y  Guz- 
man, which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  begun  to  be 
circulated  in  the  Spanish  colonies  of  America  in  1791. 

In  an  anonymous  letter  written  about  this  time  to 
the  governor  of  Montevideo,  Frangois  Xavier  Elio, 


*  "  Facultad  de  Filosofia  y  Letras.  Section  Historia.  Docu- 
mentos  Relatives  a  los  antecedents  de  la  Independencia  de  la 
Republica  Argentina,"  pp.  268,  269.  Buenos  Aires,  1912. 

[54] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

from  some  person  in  the  interior  of  Peru  (from  internal 
evidence  it  seems  probable  that  it  was  written  in  what 
is  now  Bolivia),  we  read  that  America  should  unite 
in  a  Central  Junta,  to  be  chosen  by  two  oidores 
(deputies),  from  each  audiencia ;  two  persons,  deputies, 
from  each  secular  cabildo,  two  from  each  ecclesi- 
astical cabildo;  one  from  each  partido ;  one  from  each 
cabezero  de  provincia,  and  one  half  of  the  officials, 
with  the  qualification  that,  except  the  oidores,  they 
shall  all  be  patriots,  and  that,  in  addition  to  those 
named,  as  many  others  with  talents  or  endeavors  as 
may  wish  to  be  of  service  may  come.  This  Junta 
shall  determine  which  power  they  shall  consider  as 
their  protector  and  guardian  of  the  seas,  whether 
England  or  the  Anglo-Americans,  shall  be  nearest 
through  commercial  interests ;  and  the  latter  will  send 
makers  of  all  manufactures,  whereby  the  present  con- 
ditions shall  be  remedied,  by  which  so  much  money 
leaves  the  continent  in  the  form  of  metal,  but  rather 
that  it  shall  only  leave  in  manufactures,  and  agricul- 
tural and  industrial  products.  It  was  also  in  the  year 
1809  that  Joseph  Bonaparte,  then  king  of  Spain, 
caused  a  paper  to  be  circulated  in  South  America 
stating  that  he  wished  to  make  South  America  free 
and  independent  of  Europe,  and  that  his  agents  were 
to  hold  out  the  United  States  as  a  model  to  the  peo- 
ple of  that  continent. 

The  beginning  of  the  trade  of  Salem,  Massachusetts, 
with  South  American  ports  may  be  mentioned  here. 

[55] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Within  less  than  four  months  after  the  inauguration  of 
George  Washington  as  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America  —  on  August  25th,  1789  —  the  schooner 
"Lark"  arrived  at  Salem  from  Surinam  with  a  cargo 
of  sugar,  inaugurating  a  commerce  with  that  colony 
which  lasted  for  seventy-one  years.  Many  a  cargo  of 
coffee,  cocoa,  sugar,  cotton,  molasses,  or  distilled 
spirits  was  consigned  from  Surinam  to  the  old  Salem 
merchant  princes, — William  Gray,  Elias  H.  Derby,  the 
Crowninshields,  Pickmans,  Osgoods,  Ornes  and  others 
of  the  Golden  Book  of  Salem  commerce.  In  1799 
and  again  in  1804  there  were  twelve  vessels  from 
Salem  to  Surinam.  The  trade  with  the  adjoining 
colony  of  Cayenne  was  started  in  April,  1798,  when 
the  brig  "Katy,"  Nathaniel  Brown,  master,  cleared 
for  that  port  with  a  cargo  of  fish,  flour,  bacon,  butter, 
oil,  tobacco,  candles,  and  potters'  ware.  Between  1810 
and  1877  three  hundred  vessels  arrived  at  Salem  from 
Cayenne.  The  foreign  trade  of  Salem  closed  when 
the  schooner  "  Mattie  F.,"  belonging  to  Messrs.  C.  E. 
and  B.  H.  Fabens,  entered  Salem  from  Cayenne  on 
March  2ist,  1877. 

There  is  no  more  daringly  adventurous  story  in  all 
the  annals  of  American  commerce  than  these  eighty- 
eight  years  of  Salem' s  South  American  trade.  From 
Surinam  and  Cayenne  the  Salem  merchants  pressed 
onward  down  the  Brazil  coast.  In  September,  1809, 
the  brig  "Welcome  Return,"  Jeremiah  Briggs,  mas- 
ter, arrived  at  Salem,  consigned  to  Josiah  Dow,  from 

[56] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Pernambuco.  This  Pernambuco  trade  lasted  until 
1851.  A  Salem-owned  brig  came  in  from  Bahia  with 
molasses  in  1819.  There  were  three  entries  at  Salem 
from  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  1810,  and  the  news  of  the 
glorious_£V£nts  of  May  25th,  1810,  first  reached  the 
United  States  on  a  Salem  vessel  that  arrived  at  that 
port  from  Buenos  Aires  on  August  2ist,  1810.  The 
Rio  de  Janeiro  trade  continued  until  1852.  The 
finest  vessel  ever  built  in  Salem,  "Cleopatra's  Barge," 
built  by  Mr.  George  Crowninshield,  sailed  from  Rio 
de  Janeiro  on  January  3 1st,  1819,  for.  Salem,  Mass., 
with  a  cargo  of  hides,  sugar,  coffee  and  tapioca,  which 
she  had  obtained  there  in  exchange  for  New  England 
manufactured  products.  Eight  years  before,  in 
March,  1811,  Mr.  Crowninshield's  ship  "John"  had 
entered  Salem  from  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

The  Salem-Buenos  Aires  trade  lasted  until  August, 
1860,  when  the  bark  "Salem"  returned  to  her  home 
port  for  the  last  time.  She  was  consigned  to  Mr. 
James  Upton,  whose  family  were  prominent  in  the 
South  American  trade  for  over  fifty  years.  The  Up- 
tons imported  large  quantities  of  hides  and  horns  from 
Montevideo,  Uruguay,  from  1839  to  1861,  though 
the  Salem  trade  with  Montevideo  had  begun  long 
before  that,  in  June,  1811,  when  the  brig  "Hope," 
Benjamin  Jacobs,  master,  arrived  at  Salem,  consigned 
to  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Perkins,  the  purpose  of  whose  long 
and  useful  life,  so  much  of  which  was  spent  in  promo- 
ting Pan-American  commerce,  has  been  perpetuated 

[57] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

in  his  descendant,  Mr.  James  H.  Perkins,  who  is  the 
vice-president  of  the  first  United  States  bank  to  open 
branches  in  South  America.  The  Salem  trade  with 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  Brazil,  lasted  from  1817  to  1828. 
From  1824  to  1829  several  brigs  brought  cocoa  from 
Guayaquil — still  a  port  of  the  Great  Colombian  Re- 
public, as  Ecuador  did  not  become  independent  until 
1830 — to  Salem,  where  ships  also  arrived  fromCallao 
and  Valparaiso. 

The  following  quotations  from  Manuel  Palacio's 
"Outline  of  the  Revolution  in  Spanish  America,"  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1817,  is  of  interest  as  showing 
the  effects  of  the  example  of  the  United  States  of 
America  on  the  beginnings  of  the  Venezuelan  War  of 
Independence  in  1810.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  first  outbreak  of  American  independence  in  that 
year  occurred  at  Caracas  :  — 

The  Congress  now  turned  its  attention  to  that 
new  Constitution  which  was  to  insure  the  liberty 
of  Venezuela.  The  plan  of  this  Constitution  had 
been  formed  by  Don  F.  X.  Ustariz.  He,  and 
many  others  of  the  greatest  respectability,  had 
intimated  from  the  first  their  opinion,  that,  in  case 
of  a  final  separation  from  Spain,  the  best  form  of 
government  to  be  established  in  Venezuela  was  a 
federal  one,  of  which  the  United  States  gave  an 
example.  In  order  to  disseminate  this  opinion, 
essays,  .  .  .  written  by  one  Burke,  .  .  .  were  in- 
serted in  the  Caarcas  Gazette  for  many  successive 
months  solely  to  prove  the  advantages  resulting 
from  this  Constitution  of  the  North  Americas. 

[58] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  American  Advertiser  of  Philadelphia  for  June 
7th,  1810,  contains  an  account  of  the  late  revolution 
in  Caracas,  in  which  it  states  that  "the  people  [of  South 
America]  have  no  other  idea  than  to  make  themselves 
independent  of  every  foreign  power.  In  such  a  cir- 
cumstance we  [of  the  United  States  of  America] 
cannot  be  indifferent  spectators."  It  was  also  in  1810 
that  the  Venezuelan,  Juan  German  Roscio,  secretly 
made  a  translation  of  Thomas  Paine's  "Rights  of  Man" 
(which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  Antonio  Narifio 
knew  about  sixteen  years  before  in  -Bogota,  while 
Miranda  had  met  Paine  in  the  United  States  twenty- 
seven  years  before)  and  published  extracts  from  it  in 
Caracas  in  1811.  On  June  nth,  1810,  Juan  Vicente 
de  Bolivar  and  Telesforo  de  Orea  left  for  the  United 
States  of  America  with  instructions  to  solicit  the  aid 
of  that  country  for  their  compatriots,  and  in  the  same 
month  Robert  K.  Lowry  was  appointed  Marine  and 
Commercial  Agent  of  the  United  States  of  America  to 
the  provinces  of  Venezuela,  beginning  his  long  and  use- 
ful consul  career  therein.  TOrt  June  28th,  1810,  Joel 
Roberts  Poinsett  was  appointed  agent  for  commerce 
and  seaman  of  the  United  States  of  America  at  the 
port  of  Buenos  Aires.  The  following  extract  from  the 
instructions  issued  to  him  by  Secretary  James  Monroe 
on  that  day  are  deserving  of  careful  attention,  as  show- 
ing the  attitude  of  the  United  States  of  America  toward 
the  people  of  Spanish  America  in  the  year  that  witnessed 
the  beginning  of  their  War  of  Independence :  — 

[59] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

As  a  crisis  is  approaching  which  must  produce 
great  changes  in  the  situation  of  Spanish  America, 
and  may  dissolve  altogether  its  colonial  relations 
to  Europe,  and  as  the  geographical  position  of 
the  United  States,  and  other  obvious  consider- 
ations, give  them  an  intimate  interest  in  whatever 
may  effect  the  destiny  of  that  part  of  the  American 
Continent,  it  is  our  duty  to  turn  our  attention  to 
this  important  subject,  and  to  take  such  steps, 
not  incompatible  with  the  neutral  character  and 
honest  policy  of  the  United  States,  as  the  occasion 
renders  proper.  With  this  in  view,  you  have  been 
selected  to  proceed,  without  delay,  to  Buenos 
Aires.  vYou  will  make  it  your  object,  whenever  it 
may  be  proper,  to  diffuse  the  impression  that  the 
United  States  cherish  the  sincerest  good  will 
toward  the  people  of  Spanish  America  as  neigh- 
bors, as  belonging  to  the  same  portion  of  the 
globe  and  as  having  a  mutual  interest  in  culti- 
vating friendly  intercourse ;  that  this  disposition 
will  exist,  whatever  may  be  their  internal  system 
or  European  relation,  with  respect  to  which  no 
interference  of  any  sort  is  pretended  ;  and  that,  in 
the  event  of  a  political  separation  from  the  parent 
country,  and  of  the  establishment  of  an  inde- 
pendent system  of  national  government,  it  will 
coincide  with  the  sentiments  and  policy  of  the 
United  States  to  promote  the  most  friendly  rela- 
tions, and  the  most  liberal  intercourse,  between 
the  inhabitants  of  this  hemisphere,  as  having  all  a 
common  interest,  and  as  lying  under  a  common 
obligation  to  maintain  that  system  of  peace,  justice, 
and  good  will.^which  is  the  only  source  of  happi- 
ness for  nations!] 

[60] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Whilst  you  inculcate  these  as  the  principles  and 
•  dispositions  of  the  United  States,  it  will  be  no  less 
proper  to  ascertain  those  on  the  other  side,  not 
only  towards  the  United  States,  but  in  reference 
to  the  great  nations  of  Europe,  and  to  the  com- 
mercial and  other  connections  with  them,  respec- 
tively; and,  generally,  to  inquire  into  the  state, 
the  characteristics,  and  the  proportions,  as  to 
numbers,  intelligence,  and  wealth,  of  the  several 
parties,  the  amount  of  population,  the  extent  and 
organization  of  the  military  force,  and  the  pecuni- 
aotj-esources  of  the  country. 

j  The  real  as  well  as  ostensible  object  of  your 
rrmJSfbn  is  to  explain  the  mutual  advantages  of 
commerce  with  the  United  States,  to  promote 
liberal  and  stable  regulations,  and  to  transmit 
reasonable  information  on  the  subject^  In  order 
that  you  may  render  the  more  servietf'in  this  re- 
spect, and  that  you  may,  at  the  same  time,  enjoy 
the  greater  protection  and  respectability,  you  will 
be  furnished  with  a  credential  letter,  such  as  is 
held  by  sundry  agents  of  the  United  States  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  as  was  lately  held  by  one  at 
Havana,  and  under  the  sanction  of  which  you 
will  give  the  requisite  attention  to  commercial 
objects. 

Two  of  the  remarkable  Pan-American  expressions 
of  the  year  1810  were  those  of  the  Argentinian  Ber- 
nardino Rivadavia,  and  the  Chilean  Juan  Martinez  de 
Rosas.  Rivadavia's  circular  letter  of  May  28th,  1810, 
communicating  the  news  of  the  installation  of  the 
first  Junta  at  Buenos  Aires,  speaks  of  the  union  and 
harmony  which  should  prevail  among  citizens  of  the 

[61] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

same  origin,  dependence,  and  interests,  and  in  Rosas' 
"(Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  the  Chilean  People  "  we 
find  the  following  striking  statements  :  — 

1.  The   people  of  Latin   America   cannot  de- 
fend their  sovereignty  single-handed ;  in  order  to 
develop  themselves  they  need  to  unite,  not  in  an 
internal   organization,  but   for   external   security 

/     against  the  plans  of  Europe,  and  to  avoid  wars 
I     among  themselves. 

2.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  European  states 
I      are  to  be  regarded  as  enemies;  on  the  contrary, 
I      the  friendly  relations  with  them  must  be  strength- 
/       ened  as  far  as  possible. 

/  3.  The  American  states  must  unite  in  a  con- 

/  gress  in    order  to  endeavor  to  organize  and  to 

/        fortify  themselves The  day  when  America, 

/  united  in  a  congress,  whether  of  the  two  conti- 

/  nents,  or  of  the  South,  shall  speak  to  the  rest  of 

/  the  world,  her  voice  will  make  itself  respected  and 

\.  her  resolve  would  be  opposed  with  difficulty. 

^The  foregoing  was  reechoed  in  the  Supreme  Junta 
of  Venezuela  of  April  2/th,  1810,  to  the  authorities  of 
all  the  American  capitals,  urging  them  to  contribute 
to  the  great  work  of  the  Spanish-American  Confeder- 
ation; and  their  sending  Bolivar  and  Orea  so  soon 
afterward  to  the  United  States  shows  that  they  were 
also  thinking  of  their  sister  republic  to  the  north. 
This  is  confirmed  by  the  speech  of  the  Colombian 
patriot  Miguel  Pombo,  in  1810,  to  the  people  of  Bo- 
gota, in  which  he  says :  "  The  American  voice  is 
raised  and  it  has  sworn  to  avenge  the  blood  of  its 
Franklins  and  Washingtons. 

[62] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  the  many 
references  to  the  United  States  of  America  in  the 
Gazeta  de  Buenos  Aires  (Buenos  Aires  Gazette)  for 
1810  and  subsequently.  The  issue  of  September 
27th,  1810,  alludes  to  the  freedom  of  the  press  in  the 
United  States,  while  that  for  October  2  5th  prints  a 
patriotic  song,  one  verse  of  which  reads  as  follows,  in 
translation  :  — 

If  there  was  a  Washington  in  the  North  land, 
We  have  many  Washingtons  in  the  South  ; 
If  arts  and  commerce  have  prospered  there, — 

Courage,  fellow  countrymen ; 

Let  us  follow  their  example. 

In  the  issue  for  November  28th  the  reader  is  urged  to 
"listen  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  describes  all  the  parts  of 
such  an  association  for  us  in  his  '  Observations  on  Vir- 
ginia."' A  page  of  translation  from  Jefferson  follows. 
As  the  United  States  tonnage  registered  for  foreign 
trade  reached  its  highest  point  in  the  first  sixty  years 
of  that  country's  independent  existence  in  1810,  when 
91.5%,  or  981,019  tons,  was  carried  in  vessels  flying 
the  flag  of  the  United  States  of  America,  it  is  inter- 
esting to  discuss  the  River  Plate  phase  of  this  com- 
merce. Of  the  154  vessels  entering  and  139  clearing 
from  Buenos  Aires  in  1810,  10%  flew  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  An  analysis  of  some  of  their  cargoes  shows 
the  salient  features  of  trade  between  the  United  States 
and  Buenos  Aires  during  that  memorable  year  of  Ar- 
gentine independence.  On  March  4th,  1810,  the 
United  States  frigate  "Walter,"  Captain  Bower,  which 

[63] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

had  sailed  from  Philadelphia  January  8th,  1810,  called 
at  Montevideo  on  her  way  to  Canton,  China,  and  on 
the  same  day  the  United  States  bark  "Apollo,"  Capt 
William  Bragg,  arrived  at  Montevideo  after  a  twenty- 
three-days'  sail  from  Rio  de  Janeiro,  in  ballast,  con- 
signed to  Don  Manuel  Ortega.  On  March  i/th, 
1810,  the  United  States  frigate  "Voltaire"  arrived  at 
Buenos  Aires  from  Philadelphia,  via  Montevideo, 
having  sailed  from  Philadelphia  on  January  8th,  and 
from  Montevideo  on  March  I4th.  Her  cargo  con- 
sisted of  sixty-five  cases  of  crockery,  twenty  cases  of 
colored  cotton  goods,  six  small  cases  of  linen  goods, 
three  cases  of  fine  linen,  nine  boxes  of  canvas,  two 
boxes  of  towels,  three  cases  of  handkerchiefs  and  five 
cases  of  Russian  cloths.  She  was  consigned  to  Don 
Jose  Juan  de  Larramendi.  On  June  2Oth,  1810,  the 
United  States  frigate  "George  and  Mary"  arrived  at 
Buenos  Aires  from  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  She 
had  sailed  thence  on  April  Qth,  1810.  She  brought 
out  1 08  cases  of  furniture,  fifty-seven  dozen  wooden 
chairs,  fifteen  wooden  settees,  twenty-six  bales  of  nan- 
keens, five  trunks  of  boots  and  shoes,  two  cases  of 
cotton  goods,  and  one  case  each  of  fans,  combs  and 
paper.  The  Rhode  Islanders  did  not  confine  them- 
selves to  cotton  goods  and  furniture  alone  in  their 
Buenos  Aires  shipments.  It  had  only  been  twenty 
years  since  Samuel  Slater  and  Moses  Brown  had  set 
up  the  first  cotton  mills  in  Rhode  Island.  Moses 
Brown  had  been  a  part  owner  in  the  "Mary  Ann," 

[64] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Captain  Daniel  Olney,  which,  as  we  have  seen  above, 
visited  Buenos  Aires  in  1802.  Perhaps  the  367  small 
cases  of  liquors,  the  ten  barrels  containing  cider  in 
bottles,  and  the  thirty  cases  of  salt  fish  had  been  as- 
sembled by  Brown  &  Ives  in  Providence  from  their 
vessels,  which  traded  in  many  seas,  before  the 
"George  and  Mary"  brought  them  to  Buenos  Aires. 
This  vessel  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  regularly 
ply  between  the  United  States  and  the  River  Plate. 
She  was  consigned  to  Don  Ventura  Miguel  Morco  del 
Pont,  whose  descendants  still  flourish  in  Buenos  Aires, 
and  who  dispatched  her  for  Providence  on  September 
6th,  1810,  with  8,200  horse  hides,  4,900  steer  hides 
and  1,900  cow  hides,  as  well  as  628  arrobas  of  sheep's 
wool,  6,68 1  dozen  otter  (nutria)  skins,  2,480  deer 
skins,  four  dozen  vizcacha  skins,  and  280  dozen  dog 
skins,  as  wells  as  forty  puma  skins,  sixty  casks  of  tal- 
low and  488  arrobas  of  horse  hair.  Maryland  was 
not  behind  Rhode  Island  in  the  Argentine  trade  in 
1810  —  what  would  Captain  Timothy  Pardener  of 
the  good  ship  "Fame,"  which  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires 
on  August  i  $th,  1810,  from  Baltimore,  have  said 
had  he  known  that  a  hundred  and  seven  years  later 
a  Japanese  vessel  had  made  the  same  journey?  The 
"Fame"  brought  out  dry  goods,  rope,  iron,  saddles, 
beer,  Malaga  wine,  glass,  furniture  and  shoes.  New 
York  sent  out  the  frigate  "Valentine,"  Captain  Ben- 
jamin Chase,  which  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires  on  August 
1 4th,  1810;  she  had  sailed  from  New  York  on  May 

[65] 
6 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

23rd.  Most  of  her  cargo  was  comprised  of  5,275 
pine  boards,  with  1,040  chairs  and  a  trunk  of  boots, 
and  thirty  pipes  and  a  barrel  of  Geneva, —  in  which 
the  patriots  may  have  toasted  the  new  and  glorious 
nation  arising  on  the  banks  of  the  River  Plate. 

On  January  I5th,  1811,  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  acting  in  response  to  a  secret 
message  of  President  Madison  regarding  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  Floridas,  passed  in  secret  session  a  reso- 
lution which  recited  that:  — 

Taking  into  view  the  peculiar  situation  of  Spain 
and  of  her  American  provinces ;  and  considering 
the  influence  which  the  destiny  of  the  territory 
adjoining  the  southern  border  of  the  United 
States  may  have  on  their  security,  tranquillity, 
and  commerce, — 

Resolved,  That  the  United  States,  under  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  the  existing  crises,  can- 
not, without  serious  inquietude,  see  any  part  of  the 
said  territory  pass  into  the  hands  of  any  foreign 
power ;  and  that  a  due  regard  to  their  own  safety 
compels  them  to  provide,  under  certain  contin- 
gencies, for  the  temporary  occupation  of  the  said 
territory 

A  few  months  before  this  Thomas  Sumter  had  been 
received  at  Petropolis  by  the  Prince  Regent,  Joao  VI, 
as  United  States  Minister.  On  April  3Oth,  1811, 
Joel  Roberts  Poinsett,  of  South  Carolina,  who,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  been  appointed  agent  for  commerce 
and  seamen  in  the  port  of  Buenos  Aires  on  June 

[66] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

28th,  1810,  was  given  a  new  commission  as  Consul- 
General  of  the  United  States  of  America  to  Buenos 
Aires,  Peru  and  Chile.  At  the  time  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Venezuelan  Declaration  of  Independence,  on 
July  5th,  1811,  we  find  the  patriot  Francisco  Javier 
Yanes  (whose  illustrious  grandson,  as  assistant  direc- 
tor of  the  Pan-American  Union,  has  so  worthily  main- 
tained the  family's  Pan-American  reputation),  urging 
his  colleagues  to  declare  their  independence  on  July 
4th,  as  by  doing  so  they  would  follow  the  example  of 
their  brothers  in  North  America.  .On  July  3Oth, 
1811,  the  Confederation  of  Venezuela  issued  a  mani- 
festo from  the  Federal  Palace  at  Caracas  of  the 
reasons  which  influenced  them  in  the  formation  of 
absolute  independence,  in  which  the  United  States  of 
America  is  referred  to.  When  the  Argentine  envoys, 
Belgrano  and  Echevarria,  bade  good-bye  to  Dr. 
Francia,  the  famous  dictator  and  liberator  of  Paraguay, 
on  October  I2th,  1811,  he  offered  them  a  handsome 
steel  engraving  of  Franklin  that  hung  in  his  study. 
"This  is  the  first  Democrat  in  the  world  and  the 
model  we  should  imitate,"  he  said,  when  he  presented 
it  to  Echevarria.  The  Argentineans  noticed  that 
Francia  seemed  to  know  something  of  the  War  of 
Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

With  these  growing  inter-American  relations  it  is 
only  natural  that  President  Madison  should  speak  as 
follows  in  his  message  to  Congress  of  November  5th, 
1811, —  in  words  so  feelingly  alluded  to  by  the  late 

[67] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Emilio  Mitre  on  the  occasion  of  Secretary  Root's  visit 
to  Buenos  Aires  in  1906:  — 

In  contemplating  the  scenes  which  distinguish 
this  momentous  epoch,  and  estimating  their  claim 
to  our  attention,  it  is  impossible  to  overlook  those 
developing  themselves  among  the  great  communi- 
ties which  occupy  the  southern  portion  of  our 
hemisphere,  and  extend  into  our  neighborhood. 
An  enlarged  philanthropy  and  an  enlightened 
forecast  concur  in  imposing  on  the  national  coun- 
cils an  obligation  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  their 
destinies,  to  cherish  reciprocal  sentiments  of  good- 
will, to  regard  the  progress  of  events,  and  not  be 
unprepared  for  whatever  order  of  things  may  be 
ultimately  established. 


This  was  a  message  sent  to  a  special  session  of  Con- 
gress that  was  called  to  discuss  matters  connected 
with  the  impending  war  with  England ;  and  it  is  all 
the  more  noteworthy,  as  signifying  the  interest  felt  by 
one  of  the  greatest  United  States  statesmen  in  the 
destinies  of  our  South  American  neighbors  at  this 

moment  of  national  stress. 

•*• 

Before  this  message  had  been  sent  to  Congress 
Secretary  Monroe  had  received  from  the  agent  from 
Venezuela,  Telesforo  de  Orea,  a  copy  of  the  act  of 
Venezuelan  independence ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been 
also  aware  of  the  progress  of  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment in  other  parts  of  Latin  America. 

On  November  I2th,  1811,  "such  portion  of  the 
President's  message  as  referred  to  South  America" 

[68] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

was  referred  to  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, consisting  of  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  of  New 
York;  William  Blackledge,  of  North  Carolina;  Wil- 
liam W.  Bibb,  of  Georgia;  Epaphroditus  Champion, 
of  Connecticut;  William  Butler,  of  South  Carolina; 
Samuel  Taggert,  of  Massachusetts;  and  Samuel  Shaw> 
of  Vermont. 

As  it  was  Mitchill  who  was  the  first,  so  far  as  can 
be  ascertained,  to  offer  in  a  foreign  legislative  body  a 
resolution  of  sympathy  with  the  struggling  Latin- 
American  countries,  some  account  of  his  life  may  be 
of  interest.  Samuel  Latham  Mitchill  was  born  at 
North  Hamstead,  Long  Island,  August  2Oth,  1764, 
and  died  in  New  York  City  on  September  7th,  1831. 
Educated  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  few  mem- 
bers of  any  Congress  have  won  permanent  fame  in  as 
many  useful  branches  of  public  service  as  he.  His 
chemical,  geological,  and  scientific  studies  were  prac- 
tical as  well  as  theoretical;  he  was  undoubtedly  the 
originator  of  the  idea  of  harnessing  the  water  power 
of  Niagara  Falls,  and  he  accompanied  Fulton  on  the 
first  voyage  of  the  "Clermont."  He  founded  the  first 
medical  journal  in  the  United  States,  and  was  often 
alluded  to  as  the  "Nestor  of  American  Science."  An 
interesting  letter  from  Jeremy  Robinson,  who  had  re- 
cently been  agent  of  the  United  States  of  America  at 
Lima,  Peru,  to  Mitchill  from  Valparaiso,  Chile,  in 
1820,  is  printed  on  page  43,  Vol.  XIX,  of  Niles's 
Register. 

[69] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 


It  is  extremely  probable  that  Mit 
during  the  latter' s  sojourn  in  New 
possible  that  he  saw  Bolivar  on  his  > 
tober,  1806. 

His  memorable  resolution,  offer 
loth,  181 1,  was  as  follows  :• — 


lill  met  Miranda 
York  City,  and 
sit  there  in  Oc- 


ton  December 


WHEREAS,  Several  of  the  American  Spanish 
Provinces  have  represented  to  the  United  States 
that  it  has  been  found  expedient  for  them  to 
associate  and  form  federal  governments  upon  the 
elective  and  representative  plan,  and  to  declare 
themselves  free  and  independent;  Therefore  be  it 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Con- 
gress assembled,  That  they  behold  with  friendly 
interest,  the  establishment  of  independent  sov- 
ereignties by  the  Spanish  Provinces  in  America, 
consequent  upon  the  actual  state  of  monarchy  to 
which  they  belong ;  that  as  neighbors  and  inhab- 
itants of  the  same  hemisphere,  the  United  States 
feel  great  solicitude  for  their  welfare ;  and  that, 
when  these  Provinces  shall  have  attained  the  con- 
ditions of  nations,  by  the  just  exercise  of  their 
rights,  the  Senate  and  House  will  unite  with  the 
Executive  in  establishing  with  them,  as  sovereign 
and  independent  states,  such  amicable  relations 
and  commercial  intercourse  as  may  require  their 
legislative  authority. 

With  such  friendly  resolutions  before  Congress,  it 
is  therefore  no  wonder  that  the  commissioners  from 
the  United  Provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  (now  Argen- 
tina), Diego  de  Saavedra  and  Juan  Pedro  de  Aguirre, 

[70] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

who  were  ordered  on  June  5th,  1811,  by  the  Junta 
Gubernativa  of  Buenos  Aires,  then  the  executive  au- 
thority thereof,  to  proceed  to  the  United  States  to 
buy  arms  and  inform  the  United  States  Government 
of  the  Argentine  desire  for  independence,  and  after 
sailing,  at  the  end  of  July,  1811,  arrived  at  Washing- 
ton on  October  25th,  1811.  They  wrote  to  Secretary 
James  Monroe  on  February  5th,  1812,  of  the  "liber- 
ality with  which  they  had  been  treated  by  the  Gov- 
ernment and  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,"  whose 
"favorable  disposition  to  the  cause  w.hich  our  Gov- 
ernment maintains,  is  marked  by  our  gratitude  and 
respect,"  while  Carrera,  then  dictator  of  Chile,  re- 
marked on  February  loth,  1812,  on  receiving  Joel 
Roberts  Poinsett,  the  first  representative  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  Chile,  as  follows:  "That 
power  [the  United  States]  attracts  all  our  attentions 
and  our  attachments.  You  may  safely  assure  it  of  the 
sincerity  of  our  friendly  sentiments." 

Poinsett  sincerely  and  frankly  replied  that  "  the 
Americans  of  the  North  generally  take  the  greatest 
interest  in  the  success  of  these  countries,  and  ardently 
wish  for  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  their  brothers 
to  the  south.  I  will  make  known  to  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  the  friendly  sentiments  of  Your 
Excellency,  and  I  felicitate  myself  on  having  been  the 
first  who  had  the  honorable  charge  of  establishing  re- 
lations between  two  generous  nations,  who  ought  tc 
consider  themselves  as  friends  and  natural  allies." 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

As  soon  as  news  reached  the  United  States  of  the 
terrible  earthquake  at  Caracas,  Venezuela,  of  March 
26th,  1812,  the  sympathies  of  the  people  were  aroused 
and  manifested  in  various  ways,  of  which  the  prompt 
action  by  Congress  is  an  example.  On  May  4th, 
1812,  a  law  was  passed  authorizing  the  President  to 
expend  $50,000  to  purchase  a  quantity  of  provisions 
and  present  them  to  the  government  of  Venezuela- on 
behalf  of  the  United  States.  Alexander  Scott  was 
appointed  on  March  2ist,  1812,  political  or  diplo- 
matic agent  to  Venezuela  in  South  America,  and 
continued  in  the  employment  of  the  United  States 
Government  in  that  capacity  until  May  3ist,  1813. 
He  remained  in  Caracas  until  March,  1813,  when  he 
was  compelled  by  the  Spanish  authorities  to  leave  the 
country.  He  arrived  at  La  Guaira  on  June  22nd, 
1812,  the  five  vessels  in  which  the  flour  and  other 
provisions  were  sent  coming  soon  afterwards.  So  far 
as  can  be  ascertained  this  was  the  first  congressional 
appropriation  of  its  kind,  and  is  all  the  more  note- 
worthy as  occurring  when  the  United  States  was  on 
the  brink  of  war  with  England,  when  every  penny 
available  was  being  used  for  hostile  purposes.  This 
sum  would  probably  represent  nearly  $120,000  now. 
John  C.  Calhoun,  later  Vice-President  and  Secretary 
of  both  the  State  and  War  Departments  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  was  very  active  in  securing  the 
passage  of  this  bill,  having  the  amount  raised  from 
$30,000  to  $50,000,  thus  evidencing  the  Pan-Ameri- 
canism that  characterized  his  long  and  useful  life. 

[72] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Ten  years  later  Captain  Bache,  of  the  United  States 
army,  became  acquainted  in  Bogota  with  the  officer 
who  had  received  this  "timely  offering."  "  He  reverts, 
at  every  proper  occasion,  to  the  circumstance,  with  a 
fervor  which  proves  that  his  gratitude  has  not  been 
cooled  with  the  lapse  of  time."  Five  years  later  the 
South  American  Manuel  Palacio  wrote:  "It  was  only 
by  the  liberality  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
that  the  few  whom  the  earthquake  spared  did  not 
perish  by  famine";  and  the  Mexican  Mier,  writing  at 
the  end  of  July,  1812,  says:  "We  have  learnt  with 
pleasure  that  the  United  States  have  sent  aid  to 
Venezuela  after  the  earthquake, —  $ 5 0,000,  and  pro- 
visions of  all  kinds, — as  well  as  arms  and  ammunition 
to  Buenos  Aires."  The  last  part  of  the  foregoing 
sentence  refers  to  the  mission  of  Diego  de  Saavedra 
and  Juan  Pedro  de  Aguirre  to  the  United  States. 
One  of  their  letters  to  Secretary  Monroe  has  already 
been  quoted.  They  returned  to  Buenos  Aires  from 
the  United  States  on  May  I5th,  1812,  having  been 
conducted  through  the  Spanish  blockade  of  the  Rio 
de  la  Plata  by  Captain  David  Seccht  of  the  American 
frigate  "St.  Michael."  They  brought  a  thousand  guns 
with  them,  which  they  had  obtained  in  the  United 
States  through  the  agency  of  Secretary  of  State 
James  Monroe.  Apparently  in  July  of  1812,  the 
matrons  of  Buenos  Aires  met  and  offered  to  raise  the 
money  to  pay  for  these  arms  and  munitions  of  war  by 
subscription.  Maria  Eugenia  de  Escalada,  the  half 

[73] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

sister  of  General  Jose  de  San  Martin's  wife,  took  a 
prominent  part  in  this  patriotic  endeavor  and  con- 
tributed two  ounces  of  gold  thereto.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  San  Martin  had  landed  from  Europe 
just  before  March,  1812,  and  that  consequently  these 
arms  from  the  United  States  must  have  been  among 
the  first  with  which  his  army  was  equipped. 

The  Gazeta  de  Buenos  Aires,  to  which  we  have 
already  alluded,  contains  many  references  to  the 
United  States  and  to  Pan-American  matters  in  gen- 
eral from  the  date  of  its  beginning  in  1810.  We  have 
already  seen  that  in  the  issue  for  November  28th, 
1810,  a  page  of  translation  of  President  Jefferson's 
"Observations  on  Virginia"  is  printed,  and  the  num- 
ber for  September  loth,  1812,  mentioned  the  arrival 
of  the  United  States  ship  "Laura"  that  had  left  Bos- 
ton^ on  the  4th  of  the  previous  April. 
/  Writing  in  London  in  August,  1812,  the  Mexican 
vMier  mentions  that  "Anglo-Americans  have  arrived 
in  Chile  with  a  printing-press  and  guns," — both  use- 
ful at  this  critical  stage  in  the  Chilean  struggle  for 
independence.  The  printing-press  had  arrived  at 
Valparaiso  from  New  York  on  November  24th,  1811, 
on  the  United  States  ship  "Galloway,"  which  also 
brought  three  printers  —  Samuel  Burr  Johnston,  Wil- 
liam H.  Burbidge  and  Simon  Garrison  —  from  that 
country  to  set  the  new  industry  in  operation.  John- 
ston was  made  a  Chilean  citizen  in  March,  1814,  be- 
cause of  his  "noteworthy  merit,  services,  and  zeal  for 

[74] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

freedom," — one  of  the  first  foreigners  on  whom  Chilean 
citizenship  was  conferred.  His  exploits  in  the  Chilean 
navy  will  be  enumerated  in  a  later  chapter.  One  of 
the  first  efforts  of  this  printing-press  was  to  publish 
the  first  Chilean  newspaper,  the  Aurora,  which  lasted 
from  February,  1812,  to  April  1st,  1813;  and  it  had 
many  opportunities  of  chronicling  news  from  its  native 
country  therein.  Almost  every  number  published  in 
1812  contains  some  reference  or  allusion  to  the 
United  States.  On  the  L3th  of  February,  1813,  it 
mentions  the  arrival  of  the  United  States  frigate  "  Me- 
lantho,"  Captain  Richard  R.  Boughan,  with  a  cargo 
of  linen  goods  and  canvas ;  and  in  the  issue  for  March 
2nd  we  find  notices  of  books  published  in  the  United 
States,  as  well  as  a  detailed  account  of  the  reception 
of  United  States  Consui-General  Poinsett,  by  Jose 
Miguel  Carrera,  then  dictator  of  Chile.  In  the  next 
number,  that  for  March  5th,  Matias  A.  Hoevel,  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States  of  America,  of 
Swedish  birth,  petitions  the  Chilean  Government  to 
suspend  actual  operation  of  the  Reglamento  de 
Comercio  for  February  2ist,  1811,  for  a  little  while, 
so  that  business  men  from  the  United  States  can  take 
full  advantage  thereof.  On  March  I2th  we  find  a 
description  of  a  new  printing-press  recently  invented 
in  the  United  States,  and  in  an  editorial  on  March 
1 9th,  the  editor,  that  indefatigable  early  Pan-Ameri- 
can, Camilo  Enriquez,  urges  that  books  be  brought 
from  the  United  States,  especially  grammars  and  die- 

[75] 


rNTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

tionaries,  so  that  the  people  of  Chile  may  learn  English. 
John  Quincy  Adams's  speech  of  July  4th,  1811,  in 
Washington,  is  translated  and  printed  in  this  number. 
Just  as  we  find  later  that  the  people  of  Buenos  Aires 
learned  of  Bolivar's  activities  through  the  United 
States  newspapers,  so  on  April  2nd,  1812,  extracts 
from  papers  from  Boston  regarding  Caracas  appeared 
in  the  Aurora  of  Santiago  de  Chile,  which  also  printed 
a  translation  of  Jefferson's  Inaugural  on  November 
loth,  1812,  and  Washington's  Farewell  Address  in  its 
issues  for  December  loth  and  i/th.  The  fourth  of 
July,  1812,  was  enthusiastically  celebrated  at  Santiago 
de  Chile.  The  government  took  "  every  imaginable 
interest,"  and  a  Pan-American  hymn  was  sung  in  the 
streets,  a  stanza  of  which  reads  : — 

Al  Sud  Fuerte  le  extiende  sus  Brazos 
La  Patria  Ilustre  de  Washington  ; 
El  Nuevo  Mundo  todo  se  reune 
En  eterna  Confederacion. 

[The  illustrious  fatherland  of  Washington  extends  her 
arms  to  the  strong  South  ;  all  the  New  World  unites  in  an 
eternal  confederation.] 

We  called  Camilo  Enriquez  a  Pan-American  just 
now;  if  he  had  done  nothing  else  to  justify  this  title, 
surely  the  foregoing  stanza  which  he  wrote  indicates 
his  Pan-American  views.  Later  in  his  useful  life 
(1768-1825),  when  in  exile  in  Buenos  Aires  in  1817, 
he  wrote  a  play,  the  scene  of  which  is  laid  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  Chilean  historian  Amunategui  says  of 
him  that  "the  brilliant  perspective  of  the  great  re- 
public of  the  United  States  was  always  his  model." 

[76] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

«. 

One  of  the  last  numbers  of  the  Aurora,  that  of 
March  i8th,  1813,  mentions  the  arrival  of  the  U.  S.  S. 
"Essex,"  Captain  David  Porter,  at  Valparaiso.  There 
was  some  United  States  shipping  to  look  after  on  the 
west  coast  of  South  America  then.  Four  American 
whalers  had  arrived  at  Talcuahuano  early  in  Febru- 
ary, 1813,  and  in  the  previous  year  twenty-six  of 
them,  mostly  from  Massachusetts,  were  off  the  coasts 
of  Peru  and  Chile.  Captain  David  Porter  sailed  in  the 
U.  S.  S.  "Essex,"  forty -six  guns,  from  the  capes  of 
the  Delaware  on  October  28th,  1812.  The  "Essex" 
was  built  in  Salem,  Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  in 
1799,  not  far  from  where  there  was  then  playing  as  a 
child  another  American  destined  to  be  famous  in 
Chileari  history, — William  Wheelwright. 

After  passing  the  straits  of  La  Maire  on  February 
26th,  Captain  Porter  found  himself  about  twenty  miles 
from  the  coast  of  Chile ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the 
I  5th  of  March  he  entered  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso. 
We  will  quote  his  own  words  as  to  his  reception 
there : — 

Before  I  got  to  anchor  the  captain  of  the  port, 
accompanied  by  another  officer,  came  on  board 
in  the  Governor's  barge,  with  an  offer  of  every 
civility,  assistance,  and  accommodation,  that  Val- 
paraiso could  afford  ;  and  to  my  astonishment,  I 
was  informed  that  they  had  shaken  off  all  their 
allegiance  to  Spain ;  that  the  ports  of  Chile  were 
open  to  all  nations ;  that  they  looked  up  to  the 
United  States  of  America  for  example  and  pro- 

[77] 


INTER- AM  ERIC  AN 'ACQUAINTANCES 

tection  ;  that  our  arrival  would  be  considered  the 
most  joyful  event,  as  their  commerce  had  been 
much  harassed  by  corsairs  from  Peru,  sent  out  by 
the  Viceroy  of  that  province,  to  capture  and  send 
in  for  adjudication  all  American  vessels  destined 
for  Chile,  and  that  five  of  them  had  disappeared 
from  before  the  port  only  a  few  days  before  my 
arrival,  and  had  captured  several  American  whal- 
ers, and  sent  them  to  Lima. 

The  affair  of  the  salute  was  arranged,  and,  after 
anchoring,  I  saluted  the  town  with  twenty-one 
guns,  which  were  punctually  returned;  immedi- 
ately after  which  I  waited  on  the  Governor,  Don 
Francisco  Lastra,  who  gave  me  the  most  friendly, 
and  at  the  same  time  unceremonious  reception. 
On  my  passing  the  American  armed  brig  "Colt," 
she  fired  a  salute  of  nine  guns^which  was  returned 
_by  the  "Essex"  by  seven.  II  had  not  been  long 
witn  the  Liovernor,  before  I  Discovered  that  I  had, 
happily  for  my  purpose,  goLamonfr  staunch  re- 
publicans', nfen  filled  with  *^vn1nfionary  prinriplf^ 
a*hd  apparently  desirous  ^f  ^^hlinriing  n  fnrm  of 
government  founded  orT  liberty.  The  captain  of 
the  port,  whose  name  I  do  not  recollect,  was  a 
sterling,  honest  patriot,  and  spoke  his  sentiments 
boldly ;  he  evidently  felt  as  those  should  feel  who 
are  determined  to  be  free ;  appeared  sensible  they 
had  yet  much  to  do ;  and  I  am  sure  was  resolved 
to  do  his  utmost  to  emancipate  his  country. 

A  courier  was  immediately  dispatched,  by  the 
American  vice  and  deputy  Consul,  to  Santiago, 
the  capital  of  Chile,  to  inform  Mr.  Poinsett,  the 
American  Consul-General,  of  our  arrival  in  the 
port  of  Valparaiso. 

[78] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

When  we  first  arrived,  a  few  boats  came  off 
with  fruit ;  in  a  few  hours  our  supply  was  abundant 
Nothing  could  exceed  the  excellence  and  abun- 
dance of  the  apples,  pears,  peaches,  nectarines, 
melons,  onions,  potatoes  and  vegetables  of  every 
description.  The  potatoes  are  superior  in  size 
and  quality  to  those  of  any  other  country,  and  are 
indigenous.  Tons  of  the  foregoing  articles  were 
sold  to  our  people,  which  were  laid  by  as  a  sea 
stock,  as  well  as  hogs  and  poultry  in  great  num- 
bers, and  of  the  best  qualities ;  the  fowls  are  of 
the  largest  size.  No  part  of  the  world  could  have 
afforded  us  a  more  ample  supply  of  everything 
we  wanted  of  the  provision  kind.  The  flour  and 
bread  were  of  a  very  superior  quality,  and  could 
be  procured  in  any  quantities  without  difficulty. 
All  the  dry  provisions  were  put  up  in  hides ;  the 
flour  was  better  secured  in  them  and  more  closely 
packed  than  it  could  possibly  be  in  barrels;  and, 
although  much  heavier,  we  found  them  more 
manageable.  The  use  they  make  of  hides  is  as- 
tonishing ;  the  most  of  the  furniture  for  their  mules 
and  horses,  and  their  houses,  on  some  parts  of 
their  coast,  even  their  boats,  or  as  they  are  called, 
balsas  are  made  of  this  article.  It  is  used  for 
every  purpose  to  which  it  is  possible  to  apply  it, 
either  whole,  cut  in  pieces  or  in  long  strips. 
When  used  for  balsas,  two  hides  each,  cut  some- 
thing in  the  form  of  a  canoe,  with  the  seams 
upward,  are  blown  up  by  means  of  a  reed,  and 
stopped  together;  a  piece  of  board  is  then  laid 
across  to  sit  on,  and  on  this  frail  machine  they 
venture  a  considerable  distance  to  sea.  The 
laque,  for  the  use  of  which  the  Chileans  are  so 

[79] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

i 

famous,  is  formed  of  a  very  long  strip  of  hide, 
with  a  running  noose,  and  their  dexterity  in  using 
it,  in  catching  animals  at  full  speed,  is  surprising. 
Every  pack-horseman  and  driver  of  a  jackass  is 
furnished  with  one  of  them;  and  so  much  do  they 
delight  in  them,  or  in  showing  their  dexterity, 
that  when  they  wish  to  catch  any  one  of  their 
drove,  either  to  load,  unload,  or  for  any  other 
purpose,  they  take  their  distance,  deliberately  coil 
up  their  laque,  and  never  fail  of  throwing  it  over 
the  neck  of  the  animal  wanted. 

On  the  I  /th,  Captain  Munson,  of  the  American 
brig  in  port,  arrived  from  Santiago,  bringing  me 
a  letter  from  the  Consul-General,  inviting  myself 
and  officers,  in  the  name  of  the  Government  of 
Chile,  to  visit  the  capital,  and  informed  us  that 
horses  and  every  other  convenience  were  provided 
for  on  the  road.  Captain  Munson  was  also  de- 
sired by  the  Consul  to  inform  me  that  the  Presi- 
dent and  Junta,  with  a  large  military  escort,  would 
meet  us  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  city, 
and  that,  in  a  political  view,  they  considered  our 
arrival  as  the  most  happy  event.  Captain  Munson 
stated  that  the  bells  had  been  rung  the  whole  day, 
and  illuminations  had  taken  place  the  evening 
after  our  arrival  was  announced,  and  that  it  was 
generally  believed  that  I  had  brought  from  my 
country  nothing  less  than  proposals  for  a  friendly 
alliance  with  Chile,  and  assurance  of  assistance  in 
their  struggle  for  independence.  This  idea  I  felt 
no  disposition  to  do  away  with. 

Agreeably  to  the  Governor's  invitation,  we  at- 
tended his  party,  where  we  found  a  much  larger 
and  more  brilliant  assemblage  of  ladies  than  we 

[80] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

could  have  expected  in  Valparaiso.  We  found 
much  fancy  and  considerable  taste  displayed  in 
their  dress,  and  many  of  them  very  handsome, 
both  in  person  and  in  face ;  their  complexion  re- 
markably fine,  and  their  manners  modest  and  at- 
tracting. With  their  grace,  their  beauty  of  person 
and  complexion,  and  with  their  modesty,  we  were 
delighted,  and  could  almost  fancy  we  had  gotten 
amongst  our  own  fair  countrywomen. 

After  all  was  over,  "  we  returned  on  board  our  ship, 
pleased  with  the  novelties  of  a  Chilean  ball,  and  much 
gratified  by  the  solicitude  shown  by- every  one  to 
make  our  stay  among  them  agreeable."  Before  the 
"Essex"  left  Valparaiso,  which  Porter  describes  as 
"pleasantly  situated,  and  has  a  considerable  com- 
merce," Luis  Carrera,  "  a  spirited  youth  about  twenty- 
two  years  of  age,"  the  brother  of  the  President,  dined 
on  the  "Essex"  with  Consul-General  Poinsett  and 
Consul  Haywell,  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Chile.  The  night  before  sailing 
the  Governor  of  Valparaiso  entertained  them  with  a 
dinner  and  ball,  and  "the  night  was  spent  with  much 
hilarity."  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Admiral  David 
Glasgow  Farragut  was  with  Porter  at  this  time,  as  a 
midshipman,  only  thirteen  years  old. 

The  Seminario  Repulicano  was  also  published  at 
Santiago  de  Chile  at  this  time.  It  was  founded  and 
conducted  by  Camilo  Enriquez  and  Antonio  Jose  de 
Irisarri,  who  afterwards  died  in  Brooklyn.  In  its  first 
number,  for  October  3Oth,  1813,  we  find  "examples 

[81] 

7 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

of  tolerance  of  Madison,  Jefferson  and  Washington," 
and  in  the  issue  for  November  loth,  a  version  of  a 
hymn  called  "Hail,  Great  Republic  of  the  World!" 
which  the  Seminario  states  was  the  national  hymn  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  dedicated  to  the  people 
of  Buenos  Aires.  But  the  Gazeta  de  Buenos  Aires 
had  not  been  behind  its  Chilean  contemporary  in  in- 
forming the  public  in  general  about  the  United  States 
of  America  during  the  year  1813.  The  numbers  for 
July  28th  and  August  4th,  1813,  contain  a  long  dis- 
sertation on  the  duties  and  functions  of  the  Executive 
Power  in  the  United  States.  The  number  for  August 
1 8th,  1813,  quotes  Chief  Justice  Marshall  at  length. 
On  October  6th,  1813,  the  good  people  of  Buenos 
Aires  read  in  their  Gazeta  Ministerial  a  long  transla- 
tion from  the  New  York  Evening  Post  of  the  preced- 
ing June  2 1st,  which  stated  that  "According  to  a 
letter  from  Cadiz,  dated  April  I3th,  the  Spaniards 
complain  that  the  United  States  approve  of  the  revo- 
lutionary spirit  that  abounds  in  the  American  Domin- 
ions, and  that  we  have  openly  recognized  the  rights 
that  those  countries  have  to  revolt."  The  number 
for  December  1st,  1813,  quotes  from  Fisher  Ames: 
"Those  who  govern  should  remember  that  to  pre- 
serve a  free  government  a  supine  security  is  almost 
treason. ' ' 

On  February  2nd,  1813,  a  Spanish  translation  of 
Washington's  Farewell  Address  was  published  at 
Buenos  Aires;  the  translation  was  made  by  no  less  a 

[82] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

person  than  General  Manuel  Belgrano,  who  stated  in 
his  Preface  thereto  that  the  Farewell  Address  first 
came  into  his  hands  about  the  year  1805;  that  he 
undertook  to  translate  it  himself,  but  it  was  lost  with 
all  his  papers  in  "his  dangerous  and  hasty  Combat  of 
March  9th,  1811,  at  Tacuari";  thereupon,  as  he  was 
"anxious  that  the  lessons  of  the  American  Hero  might 
be  propagated  among  us,"  he  received  another  copy 
from  the  hands  of  David  C.  De  Forest ;  and  the 
American  Dr.  Redhead,  who  was  also  then  living  in 
Buenos  Aires,  assisted  him  in  the  translation.  He 
alludes  to  Washington  as  "that  Hero  worthy  of  the 
admiration  of  our  Age  and  of  the  Generations  to 
come,  example  of  moderation  and  of  true  patriotism, 
who  bade  farewell  to  his  fellow-citizens,  on  leaving 
office,  giving  them  the  most  important  and  salutary 
lessons ;  and  in  speaking  of  them,  I  speak  of  all  those 
we  have  about  us,  and  with  all  those  who  may  have 
the  glory  to  call  themselves  Americans."  He  also 
states  that  "I  merely  wish  to  beseech  the  Govern- 
ment, my  fellow-citizens  and  ah1  who  think  of  the 
happiness  of  America,  not  to  separate  this  little  Book 
from  their  pockets.  Let  them  read,  study  and  medi- 
tate on  it,  and  determine  to  imitate  that  great  man, 
so  that  we  may  arrive  at  the  end  to  which  we  as- 
pire,— to  constitute  ourselves  into  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent Nation." 

The  letter  of  Juan   Manuel  de  Luca  to  the  Vice- 
Consul  of  the   United  States  of  America  in  Buenos 

[83] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Aires,  William  Gilchrist  Miller,  dated  February  roth, 
1813,  is  of  interest  at  this  stage  of  our  narrative  : — 

On  the  3 1st  of  last  month  the  General  As- 
sembly was  installed,  which  was  announced  to  the 
.free  provinces  within  our  limits  on  October  23rd 
last,  having  been  recognized  and  sworn  to  worthily 
and  with  all  solemnity. 

The  status  of  legitimate  and  sovereign  repre- 
sentation to  which  these  provinces  have  been 
raised  by  common  vote,  presents  to-day  the  most 
happy  occasion  of  assuring  your  Excellency  that, 
its  national  form  having  been  created,  by  order  of 
my  Government  I  have  the  honor  to  communi- 
cate to  you  that  his  Excellency  desires  nothing 
so  greatly  as  to  initiate  with  those  free  countries 
of  North  America  those  commercial  relations  of 
mutual  interest  and  frankness  which  open  the 
channels  to  industry  and  prosperity  of  States, 
more  indeed  in  those  in  whose  origin  is  seen  the 
same  principles  which  have  governed  our  political 
regeneration.  I  have  the  honor  to  communicate 
such  a  noteworthy  event  to  you,  assuring  you  at 
the  same  time  that  my  Government  instructs  me 
to  extend  every  consideration  to  you,  who  are  so 
worthy  of  your  representative  character. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Your  very  obedient 
servant,  JUAN  MANUEL  DE  LUCA, 

Secretary  of  the  Ad  interim  Government. 

A  week  later,  on  February  i/th,  1813,  we  find  de 
Luca  sending  a  similar  notification  to  United  States 
Consul  Poinsett  in  Chile.  The  Argentine  historian 
Palomeque,  commenting  on  this,  states  that  "the 

[84] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

directors  of  the  Argentine  Revolution  had  formed 
such  an  opinion  of  the  worth  of  North  America  [the 
United  States  of  America]  that  they  were  already 
seeking  their  alliance  in  1813." 

On  July  2 1st,  1813,  the  triumvirate, —  Nicolas 
Rodriguez  Pena,  Jose  Julian  Perez,  and  Antonio  A. 
Gomez, —  developed  the  foregoing  ideas  of  Secre- 
tary Luca  in  the  following  important  dispatch  to 
President  Madison:  — 

Since  the  cry  of  freedom  resounded  on  the  wide 
shores  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  men  accustomed  to 
forecast  events  justly  flattered  themselves  that 
the  great  people  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America  would  never  be  indifferent  to  the  eman- 
cipation and  prosperity  of  these  Colonies.  As  they 
were  starting  on  the  same  career  which  those  had 
gloriously  completed,  and  considering  the  identity 
of  interests  and  reciprocity  of  relations,  they  hoped 
to  make  the  first  announcement  to  them  and  to 
request  their  protection  abroad,  as  the  other  pow- 
ers were  almost  exclusively  occupied  in  the  ruin- 
ous continental  war  in  which  they  were  engaged, 
and  were  under  various  forms  of  tyranny  and 
European  ambition.  Unfortunately  the  vacilla- 
tions and  uncertainties  which  necessarily  accom- 
pany the  transition  from  one  government  to 
another  in  countries  long  enslaved  took  place  in 
these  Provinces ;  and  did  not  allow  what  should 
have  been  the  proper  result  of  that  great  event  to 
take  place, — to  establish  direct  relations  with 
your  country;  a  new  obstacle  which  has  embar- 
rassed and  frustrated  the  best  of  our  intentions 

[85] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

having  arisen, —  the  recent  breaking  off  the  rela- 
tions between  the  United  States  and  England. 

But  finally  the  love  of  freedom  overcame  oppo- 
sition, triumphed  successfully  over  its  enemies, 
and  after  a  constant  series  of  victories,  has  pro- 
duced order,  which  will  assure  the  results  of  our 
glorious  Revolution.  As  the  general  constituent 
Assembly  of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata  has  been  opened,  and  the  Executive 
Authority  constituted  on  bases  none  the  less  firm 
because  they  are  liberal,  and  the  great  cause  of 
those  who  sustain  the  rights  of  the  people  against 
the  impious  doctrine  of  those  who  endeavor  to 
submit  them  to  the  proscription  and  the  exclusive 
interests  of  Kings,  will  succeed  by  the  declaration 
of  independence  in  these  southern  hemispheres. 

In  circumstances  which  are,  therefore,  happy, 
this  Government  has  the  honorable  and  cordial 
pleasure  of  announcing  to  your  Excellency  its 
permanent  installation,  and  of  conveying  to  the 
honorable  American  Congress,  through  the  most 
worthy  medium  of  your  Excellency,  its  highest 
prospect  and  sentiments  of  friendship. 

The  dispositions  which  arise  from  the  analogy 
of  political  principles  and  the  indubitable  charac- 
teristics of  a  national  sympathy,  should  prepare 
a  fraternal  alliance  which  would  truly  unite  the 
Americans  of  the  North  and  South  forever,  caus- 
ing the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  the 
Constituent  Assembly  of  the  United  Provinces  of 
the  Rio  de  la  Plata  to  adopt  the  basis  of  social 
compatibility  to  its  full  extent  to  show  through  its 
results  that  between  the  Governments  of  the  two 
Americas  there  exist  neither  the  lugubrious  dis- 

[86] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

tinctions  which  separate  morality  from  politics,  or 
the  artificial  manipulations  of  the  ministries  of  the 
Old  World 

Will  your  Excellency  be  pleased  to  accept  the 
assurances  and  the  testimony  of  the  highest  con- 
sideration of  this  Government? 

May  God  guard  your  Excellency  many  years. 
JOSE  JULIAN  PEREZ, 
ANTONIO  A.  GOMEZ, 
NICOLAS  RODRIGUEZ  PENA. 

Buenos  Aires,  July  21,  1813. 

To  the  very  honorable  President  of  the  United 
States  of  North  America, 
Washington. 

On  the  sixth  anniversary  of  the  first  step  toward 
Argentine  independence,  in  the  issue  of  May  25th, 
1816,  the  following  interesting  announcement  is  made 
in  the  Gazeta  de  Buenos  Aires  : — 

We  believe  that  we  did  not  remember  to  men- 
tion on  this  day  the  events  in  the  United  States. 
America  is  the  common  fatherland  of  every  Amer- 
ican against  the  oppression  of  the  monarchs  of 
Europe,  and  Washington,  although  he  was  born 
of  the  north  of  this  part  of  the  globe,  is  also  a  fel- 
low-countryman of  those  who  were  born  in  the 
south.  Besides,  the  revolution  in  the  United 
States  is  a  finished  picture,  and  a  masterpiece  of 
wisdom  and  virtue ;  ours  is  still  in  the  workmen's 
hands. 

Buenos  Aires  received  its  news  of  what  Bolivar  and 
other  patriots  were  accomplishing  in  Colombia,  and 

[87] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

what  is  now  the  Republic  of  Venezuela,  by  way  of 
the  United  States,  as  well  as  their  information  about 
Mexico.  Thus  the  issue  of  March  i6th,  1814,  quotes 
a  long  extract  from  the  Boston  Gazette  of  September 
1 6th,  1813,  "which  has  just  reached  us,"  about  a  let- 
ter from  Curacao,  dated  August  8th,  1813,  concerning 
the  recent  patriotic  victories  in  Venezuela.  Again,  in 
the  issue  of  July  6th,  1816  (three  days  before  the 
Congress  of  Tucuman  met  and  consolidated  the  liber- 
ties of  the  strong  young  Argentine  provinces),  the 
latest  news  from  Cartagena  appeared,  culled  from 
papers  in  the  United  States.  The  issue  of  August 
3 1st,  1816,  reprints  the  famous  letter  of  December 
3 1st,  1815,  from  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico  to  the  Spanish 
Government,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  policy  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  of  their  interest  in  the 
emancipation  of  the  Mexican  provinces  and  in  up- 
lifting them  by  its  system.  When,  on  October  I9th, 
1816,  a  ship  arrived  from  Philadelphia  in  the  record 
time  of  two  months  and  five  days,  bearing  important 
news  from  Mexico,  a  special  number  of  the  Gazeta 
Ordinaria  was  prepared. 

In  the  issue  for  November  2Oth,  1815,  we  read  the 
following  extract  from  the  London  Chronicle  of  Sep- 
tember 8th,  1815  :  "Morelos  has  established  an  active 
and  sure  means  of  communicating  with  the  United 
States.  Parties  of  American  volunteers  have  pene- 
trated into  the  interior  provinces  of  New  Spain,  and 
have  given  a  great  impulse  to  the  revolution  of  that 

[88] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

country.  Don  Pedro  Gual,  Commissioner  of  the 
independent  government  of  New  Granada,  has  just 
arrived  at  New  York.  We  know  that  the  Washington 
Government  is  trying  to  facilitate  the  export  of  arms 
to  Spanish  America,  and  that  the  independent  flag 
of  that  country  is  cordially  received  in  the  United 
States."  President  Madison's  message  to  Congress  of 
September  2Oth,  1814,  is  reprinted  in  the  issue  for 
February  1st,  1815,  with  the  following  comment: 
"  The  following  message  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the  United 
States  Congress  is  a  state  paper  which  should  be 
published  for  various  reasons,  as  it  gives  an  exact 
idea  of  the  condition  of  that  country,  and  its  great  re- 
sources." On  April  6th,  1816,  the  indefatigable  De 
Forest  advertises  for  sale  "A  Concise  History  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  from  its  origin  to  the  year 
1807."  Possibly  some  copies  of  this  book  were  used 
by  those  responsible  for  the  memorable  Declaration 
of  Argentine  Independence  at  Tucuman,  on  July  9th, 
1816.  This  was  a  translation  of  the  third  edition  of 
a  book  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1812,  by  Manuel 
Garcia  de  Sena,  the  Colombian.  The  Preface  is  dated 
November  2Oth,  181 1,  and  the  exact  title  is  "Historia 
Concisa  de  los  Estados  Unidos  desde  el  Descubrimi- 
ento  de  la  America  hasta  el  ano  de  1807."  ^^ 

Though  Chilean  journalism  of  that  time  enjoyed  a 
precarious  and  infrequent  existence,  it  made  various 
references  to  the  United  States.  The  Aurora,  from 
which  we  have  previously  quoted,  was  succeeded  by 

[89] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

the  Monitor  Araucano,  which  lasted  from  April  6th, 
1813,  until  after  the  defeat  of  the  Chilean  patriot 
army  at  Rancagua,  its  last  issue  appearing  on  Sep- 
tember 3Oth,  1814.  President  Madison's  message  to 
the  United  States  Congress  on  the  war  with  England 
was  printed  in  the  numbers  for  July  2Oth  and  22nd, 
1813,  and  another  of  his  messages  appeared  in  the 
issue  for  April  22nd,  1814.  That  for  April  iQth, 
mentions  the  victory  of  the  United  States  troops  over 
General  Proctor  and  the  destruction  of  the  British 
fleets  on  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie  by  the  United  States 
navy.  Later,  even  the  Royalist  Gazeta  del  Gobiemo 
de  Chile  turned  to  President  Madison  for  inspiration. 
Even  though  all  the  Auroras  and  Monitor  Araucanos 
were  ordered  to  be  confiscated  on  January  loth, 
1815,  the  Gazeta  printed  President  Madison's  mes- 
sage to  Congress  on  the  continuation  of  the  war  with 
England  in  its  numbers  for  July  27th  and  August  3rd, 
1815.  It  must  have  been  news ;  but  the  war  with  Eng- 
land had  been  over  for  six  months  when  it  was  printed. 
On  January  2nd,  1814,  in  a  speech  made  in  honor 
of  Simon  Bolivar  at  Caracas,  the  Governor  of  Caracas 
stated  that  — 

....  a  thousand  glorious  events  make  the 
liberator  of  Venezuela  a  hero  worthy  of  being 
placed  by  the  side  of  the  immortal  Washington ; 
and  to  a  certain  degree  he  has  added  to  his  valor 
and  military  skill  the  wisdom  and  policy  of  his 
companion,  Franklin. 

[90] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  president  of  the  municipality,  Juan  Antonio 
Rodriguez  Dominguez,  in  his  speech  referred  to 
Washington  as  the  "tutelary  genius  of  the  freedom 
of  the  United  States  of  the  North."  On  this  same 
occasion  Domingo  Alzuru,  well  known  for  the  perse- 
cutions inflicted  on  him  by  the  Spaniards,  and  for  his 
exalted  patriotism,  stated  that — 

....  we  have  a  hero  ....  whose  name  will 
be  written  in  all  the  cultured  nations  of  the  Uni- 
verse on  a  par  with  that  of  Washington,  and 
among  those  of  Franklin,  Brutus,  Decius,  Cassius, 
and  Cimbrius. 

This  ceremony  was  that  through  which  Bolivar  was 
popularly  recognized  as  dictator  for  such  time  as  suf- 
ficed to  affirm  the  freedom  of  the  fatherland.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  phases  of  the  Pan-Americanism 
of  this  period  is  the  relations  between  the  national 
hero  of  Uruguay,  Jose  Artigas,  and  the  United  States 
of  America.  They  are  exemplified  in  the  following 
letter  from  Artigas  to  President  James  Monroe,  dated 
at  Purificacion,  September  1st,  1817:  — 

MOST  EXCELLENT  SIR  : 

I  had  the  honor  to  communicate,  in  the  first 
instance,  with  Mr.  Thomas  Lloyd  Halsey,  Consul 
of  the  United  States  in  these  provinces,  and  I  have 
to  congratulate  myself  on  so  fortunate  an  incident. 
I  have  tendered  to  him  my  respects  and  all  my 
services ;  and  I  will  avail  myself  of  this  favorable 
occasion  of  presenting  my  most  cordial  respects  to 
your  Excellency. 

[91] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  various  events  of  the  Revolution  have 
hitherto  deprived  me  of  the  opportunity  of  ac- 
cording this  duty  with  my  wishes.  I  pray  your 
Excellency  to  be  pleased  to  accept  them,  now 
that  I  have  the  honor  to  offer  them  to  you,  with 
the  same  sincerity  that  I  strive  to  promote  the 
public  weal  and  the  glory  of  the  Republic.  All 
my  efforts  are  directed  to  their  support,  aided  by 
the  sacrifices  of  thousands  of  my  fellow-citizens. 
May  heaven  grant  our  wishes. 

In  that  event  I  shall  still  more  warmly  renew 
to  your  Excellency  the  assurance  of  my  cordial 
regard,  and  of  the  high  consideration  with  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  be,  most  Excellent  Sir,  your 
Excellency's  most  obedient,  respectful  and  con- 
stant servant 

JOSE  ARTIGAS. 

Consul  Halsey  was  an  interesting  pioneer  of  United 
States  interests  and  influence  in  the  River  Plate.  His 
home  was  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  Appointed 
Consul  in  Buenos  Aires  by  President  Madison  in  May, 
1813,  he  did  not  arrive  there  until  the  end  of  that 
year ;  he  continued  in  office  until  about  January  24th, 
1818,  the  four  years  of  his  incumbency  being  critically 
historical  ones  for  the  country  of  his  official  residence. 
He  was  a  man  of  somewhat  impulsive  character,  well- 
intentioned  and  at  times  far-seeing,  who  had  very 
strong  ideas  on  the  importance  of  increasing  the 
prestige  of  his  country  in  the  River  Plate  countries. 
He  was  engaged  in  business  throughout  his  Consul- 
ship, as  the  Buenos  Aires  consulate  did  not  become 

[92] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

one  of  career  until  long  afterward.  Possibly  through 
these  business  connections  he  seems  to  have  been  on 
bad  terms  with  his  fellow-countryman  David  C.  De 
Forest. 

Although  Halsey  is  still  commendingly  referred  to 
in  Argentina  as  having  introduced  various  useful 
breeds  of  sheep  into  that  country,*  he  seems  have  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  the  Argentine  Government 
at  the  time  of  his  official  residence  therein  by  taking 
an  active  part  in  various  political  matters,  though  this 
very  activity  doubtless  made  him  friends  among  the 
people  of  Buenos  Aires.  From  various  indirect 
sources  it  seems  highly  probable  that  Halsey  offered 
Artigas  asylum  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
especially  as  the  report  that  he  did  so  occurs  per- 
sistently in  Uruguayan  historical  writings.  From  the 
somewhat  fragmentary  correspondence  on  file  in  the 
Department  of  State  at  Washington  from  him,  he 
seems  to  have  been  interested  in  Uruguayan  affairs. 

Further  evidences  of  Artigas's  fondness  for  the 
United  States  may  be  seen  in  the  "Memoria  of  Don 
Ramon  Caceres  on  Historic  Events  in  Uruguay," 
dated  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  August  9th,  1850,  in  which 
he  states  that  "at  the  beginning  we  all  took  the  United 
States  as  a  model,"  and  also  on  page  265,  where  he 
states:  "We  were  proud  of  the  many  sons  of  distin- 
guished families  fighting  among  us,  speaking  of  this 


*See  Mulhall's  "English  in  the  River  Plate";  also  Volume 
III  of  the  Argentine  Agricultural  Census  of  1908,  pp.  65,  66. 

[93] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

matter  in  the  presence  of  worthy  foreigners,  envoys 
of  North  America,"  etc.  On  December  i6th,  1856, 
Ramon  de  Caceres  wrote  to  Bartolome'  Mitre  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

Replying  to  your  questions  as  explicitly  as  I 
can,  I  will  add  that  Artigas  had  a  great  fondness 
for  the  North  Americans,  the  agents  of  whose  gov- 
ernment he  often  had  near  him,  and  some  of  the 
officers  which  Jose  Miguel  Carrera  brought  out 
for  his  enterprise  against  Chile  served  under  Arti- 
gas's  orders ;  among  them  was  an  artillery  captain 
called  Henry  Kennedy,  a  young  man  full  of  merit ; 
and  I  have  been  assured  that  he  still  lives  near 
Mendoza,  sightless,  for  a  bullet  struck  out  both  his 
eyes  in  the  Civil  War. 

There  is  a  curious  reference  in  a  dispatch  of  John 
Murray  Forbes,  agent  of  the  United  States  at  Buenos 
Aires,  to  the  Department  of  State  on  December  4th, 
1820,  to  the  effect  that  Halsey  had  furnished  Artigas 
with  arms  and  had  personal  correspondence  with  him. 
Such  action  is  wholly  in  accordance  with  his  dispatch 
to  Secretary  Monroe  of  November  /th,  1815,  urging 
the  United  States  to  loan  money  and  arms  to  Argen- 
tina, and  on  July  3rd,  1816,  six  days  before  the 
memorable  Congress  at  Tucuman,  he  writes  again  to 
the  Department  of  State  in  a  similar  strain.  Before 
waiting  for  any  authorization  or  instructions,  so  far  as 
can  be  ascertained,  he  guaranteed  a  loan  made  by 
who  was  also  a  citizen  of  the 
Fnited  States  of  America,  to  the  Argentine  Govern- 

[94] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

ment ;  and  it  would  seem  that  he  had  a  perfect  right 
to  do  this  in  his  private  business  capacity,  which  was 
often,  as  in  the  case  of  other  United  States  consular 
representatives  at  that  time,  inextricably  interwoven 
with  his  representative  character.  Professor  Paxson 
states  that  this  loan  "saved  the  life  of  the  existing 
Argentine  Government."  Devereux's  commission  as 
General  was  received  from  the  Government  of  the 
United  Provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  at  about  this 
time.  In  addition  to  the  loan  above  referred  to,  he 
gave  the  Buenos  Airean  patriots  a  large  supply  of 
munitions  of  war.  The  Supreme  Director,  Pueyrre- 
ddn,  certainly  seemed  grateful  for  the  assistance  of 
Halsey  and  Devereux  in  this  matter,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  following  letter  of  his  to  President  Madison, 
dated  January  3ist,  1817:  — 

MOST  EXCELLENT  SIR  : 

This  Government,  having  been  more  active 
than  ever  in  the  present  struggle,  to  bring  to  com- 
pletion the  happy  independence  which  the  people 
have  sworn  and  proclaimed,  has  endeavored  to 
take  every  measure  to  forestall  risks  and  to  reckon 
with  results,  and  to  place  the  seal  on  the  honor- 
able character  which  we  now  possess.  But,  in 
spite  of  such  worthy  endeavors,  sufficient  impulse 
has  not  been  given  to  the  cause  to  drive  away  the 
enemy,  making  him  feel  the  weakness  of  his  en- 
terprise, because  of  the  lack  of  sufficient  funds, 
has  at  times  paralyzed  hostile  measures  to  have 
full  play  in  other  endeavors.  In  such  a  hard 

[95] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

struggle  Providence  sent  me  aid  through  Mr. 
John  Devereux,  to  whom  I  was  invited  through 
the  Consul  of  those  States,  Mr.  Thomas  Lloyd 
Halsey,  in  the  form  of  two  million  pesos,  to  be 
lent  this  Government  under  certain  conditions, 
which  I  have  not  hesitated  in  accepting  because 
of  the  need  which  forced  me  to  do  so,  as  well  as 
by  the  nature  of  the  contract ;  it  has  been  ap- 
proved by  the  competent  authorities,  and  the 
articles  which  make  it  binding,  and  which  are 
added  thereto,  have  been  approved  in  an  agree- 
ment with  the  aforesaid  Consul.  It  only  remains 
for  this  Government  to  give  it  all  the  protection 
necessary  for  its  fulfillment,  and  that  is  what  these 
people  request  of  Your  Excellency  through  me. 
Persuaded  as  they  are  that  the  liberty  which  these 
states  enjoy  is  the  same  which  yours  proclaim, 
they  have  such  confidence  in  the  guarantee  of 
your  Government  for  this  loan  that  they  have 
already  given  themselves  over  to  the  sweet  hopes 
of  friendly  mutual  relations,  as  between  brothers, 
and  they  offer  the  most  sincere  cordiality  from 
now  on,  and  reciprocal  union  on  behalf  of  the 
pure  cause  they  defend. 

May  God  guard  Your  Excellency  many  years. 

Now  Halsey  had  evidently  not  heard  of  Talley- 
rand's maxim  about  avoiding  the  use  of  too  much 
zeal ;  for  he  went  too  far  in  this  case ;  of  course  the 
United  States  could  not  guarantee  any  such  loan, 
whatever  Halsey  and  Devereux  might  have  done  in 
their  private  capacity.  But  Halsey  was  doubtless  en- 
couraged in  his  endeavors  by  the  following  letter  from 
Ignacio  Alvarez  to  him,  dated  May  loth,  1815  : — 

[96] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

On  the  6th  instant  I  took  possession  of  this 
Government  to  which  the  election  of  this  worthy 
City  has  destined  me  in  the  quality  of  a  substitute ; 
the  administration  of  the  State  has  placed  under 
the  direction  of  other  persons,  to  be  put  an  end  to 
the  calamities  which  the  former  Government  oc- 
casioned, although  it  has  not  altered  in  the  least 
the  consideration  of  the  estimation  and  value 
which  the  country  dispenses  to  persons  who  are 
invested  with  a  public  character  from  foreign  pow- 
ers. There  is,  further,  a  particular  motive  for 
distinguishing  you  from  the  source  of  your  repre- 
sentation. If  from  the  obstacles  that  have  placed 
us  at  a  distance,  and  the  lack  of  communication, 
we  have  not  maintained  closer  relations  with  the 
United  States  of  the  North,  we  have  not  been 
without  knowing  that  reciprocal  interest,  and  the 
analogy  of  sentiments  invite  us  to  unite  our  fate 
with  the  virtuous  sons  of  Washington.  In  offering 
myself  to  you  with  this  new  purpose,  and  with  all 
the  considerations  of  appreciation  which  you  de- 
serve, I  think  it  my  duty  to  beg  you  to  use  all  the 
influence  you  have  with  your  Government,  so  that 
when  circumstances  permit  we  may  be  able  to 
receive  the  assistance  that  lies  in  their  power, 
particularly  with  regard  to  articles  of  war,  being 
assured  that  this  Capital  will  make  full  payment 
for  them,  and  that  they  will  advise  me  when  op- 
portunity offers  to  direct  our  communications. 

This  specific  request  for  "assistance  with  regard  to 
articles  of  war"  later  broadened  into  the  mission  of 
Manuel  Hermenegildo  de  Aguirre  to  the  United 
States  of  America.  Three  months  after  Halsey  had 

[97] 

8 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

ceased  to  be  Consul,  on  April  28th,  1817,  Pueyrreddn, 
who  must  have  been  sincerely  friendly  towards  the 
United  States  to  have  written  such  a  letter  as  the 
foregoing,  addressed  President  Monroe  in  the  follow- 
ing communication,  whose  language  would  indicate 
that  even  the  disavowal  of  the  loan  had  not  shaken  his 
faith  in  the  good-will  and  brotherhood  of  the  United 

States  of  America.     He  states  that — 

• 

When  the  interests  of  sound  policy  are  in  ac- 
cord with  the  principles  of  justice,  nothing  is  more 
easy  or  more  pleasing  than  the  maintenance  of 
harmony  and  good  understanding  between  Pow- 
ers which  are  connected  by  close  relations.  This 
seems  to  be  exactly  the  case  in  which  the  United 
States  and  these  Provinces  stand  with  respect  to 
each  other ;  a  flattering  situation,  which  gives  the 
signal  of  our  success,  and  forms  our  best  apology. 
It  is  on  this  occasion  that  Citizen  Don  Manuel 
Hermenegildo  de  Aguirre,  Commissary-General 
of  War,  is  deputed  toward  you  in  the  character  of 
Agent  of  this  Government.  If  his  recommend- 
able  qualities  are  the  best  pledge  of  the  faithful 
,  discharge  of  his  commission  and  of  its  favorable 
issue,  the  upright  and  generous  sentiments  of 
Your  Excellency  are  not  less  auspicious  to  it 
The  concurrence  of  these  circumstances  induces 
me  to  hope  for  the  most  favorable  results.  I 
trust,  therefore,  that  Your  Excellency  will  be 
pleased  to  grant  to  the  said  citizen  Aguirre  all  the 
protection  and  consideration  required  by  his 
diplomatic  rank  and  the  present  state  of  our  re- 
lations. This  will  be  a  new  tie,  by  which  the 

[98] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

United  States  of  the  North  will  more  effectually 
secure  the  gratitude  and  affections  of  the  Free 
Provinces  of  the  South. 

Aguirre  left  Buenos  Aires  on  May  2Oth,  1817;  on 
April  1 9th  he  had  made  a  contract  with  George 
Green,  a  United  States  merchant  residing  in  that  city, 
to  bring  some  merchant  vessels  from  the  United 
States  for  the  use  of  the  patriot  forces  then  devoting 
their  energies  toward  obtaining  the  independence  of 
the  west  coast  of  South  America.  Forty-two  years 
before,  on  April  ipth,  1775,  the  embattled  farmers  at 
Lexington  and  Concord  had  fired  the  shot  heard 
around  the  world ;  and  now  their  countrymen  were  to 
aid  their  brothers  under  the  Southern  Cross  in  their 
struggle  for  freedom. 

Aguirre  possessed  yet  another  credential  —  nothing 
less  than  a  letter  from  Jose  de  San  Martin,  General- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  of  the  Andes,  to  President  James 
Monroe.  It  is  a  simple,  dignified  letter  that  fitly 
alludes  to  the  similarity  of  the  movement  for  freedom 
in  both  Americas ;  it  is  the  letter  of  one  of  the  greatest 
men  that  has  ever  inspired  the  world  with  that  con- 
sistently courageous  self-denial  without  which  true 
patriotism  can  never  exist,  or  without  which  great 
nations  cannot  be  founded.  It  was  written  in  April, 
1817,  and  deserves  to  be  quoted  in  full:  — 

k 

MOST  EXCELLENT  SIR: 

Charged  by  the  Supreme  Director  of  the  Prov- 
inces of  South  America  with  the  command  of  the 

[99] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Army  of  the  Andes,  Heaven  crowned  my  forces 
with  a  victory  on  the  1 2th  of  February  over  the 
oppressors  of  the  beautiful  kingdom  of  Chile. 
The  sacred  rights  of  nature  being  restored  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  country  by  the  influence  of  the 
national  arms  and  the  efficacious  impulse  of  my 
Government,  fortune  has  opened  a  favorable  field 
to  new  enterprises,  which  secure  the  power  of 
liberty  and  the  ruin  of  the  enemies  of  America. 
Towards  securing  the  consolidation  of  this  object, 
the  Supreme  Director  of  the  Government  of  Chile 
has  considered,  as  a  principal  instrument,  the 
armament  in  these  States  of  a  squadron  destined 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which,  united  to  the  forces 
that  are  preparing  in  the  River  La  Plata,  may 
cooperate  in  sqstaining  the  ulterior  military  oper- 
ations of  the  army  under  my  command  in  South 
America ;  and,  convinced  of  the  advantages  which 
our  political  situation  promises,  I  have  crossed  the 
Andes  in  order  to  concert  in  that  capital,  among 
other  things,  the  guaranty  of  my  Government, 
and,  in  compliance  with  the  stipulations  between 
the  Supreme  Director  of  Chile  and  its  intimate 
ally,  to  carry  into  effect  the  plan  which  has  been 
confided  to  Don  Manuel  Aguirre.  Your  Excel- 
lency, who  enjoys  the  honor  of  presiding  over  a 
free  people,  who  contended  and  shed  their  blood 
in  a  similar  cause  to  that  in  which  the  inhabitants 
of  South  America  are  now  engaged,  will,  I  hope, 
deign  to  extend  to  the  above-named  person  such 
protection  as  is  compatible  with  the  actual  relations 
of  your  Government ;  and  I  have  the  high  satisfac- 
tion of  assuring  your  Excellency  that  the  arms  of 
the  country  under  my  orders  will  not  fail  to  give 

[100] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

consistency  and  respect  to  the  promises  of  both 
Governments. 

I  am  happy  in  having  this  agreeable  occasion 
to  pay  tribute  to  your  Excellency  of  the  homage 
and  profound  respect  witrr  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  be  Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

JOSE  DE  SAN  MARTIN. 

The  credential  Aguirre  possessed  from  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata 
to  James  Monroe,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  is  also  quoted  below  in  full : — 

It  cannot  be  forgotten  that  through  this  heroic 
revolution  the  people  of  this  Union  have  long 
since  directed  their  gaze  toward  that  great  Re- 
public which  exists  in  the  North  of  America. 
Since  they  obtained  their  glorious  liberty,  the 
United  States  have  been  like  a  luminous  constel- 
lation which  indicates  the  career  traced  by  Provi- 
dence for  the  other  people  of  this  part  of  the 
globe. 

Be  it  pleased,  therefore,  to  receive  from  the 
voice  of  this  Government  its  sincere  sentiments  on 
the  present  occasion  and  transmit  them  to  his 
Excellency  the  President  of  the  United  States,  so 
that  that  worthy  magistrate  of  the  first  free  nation 
of  America  may  direct  his  attention  to  the  state  in 
which  we  now  are,  and  may  be  pleased  to  accept 
the  congratulations  of  this  Government,  because 
of  the  close  relations  which  exist  between  the 
people  who  are  charged  therewith  and  ourselves, 
especially  since  we  no  longer  belong  to  Spain, 
but  are  independent. 

[101] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Indeed,  this  is  the  precious  moment  to  advance 
the  commercial  relations  which  have  already  be- 
gun, with  the  advantages  which  two  Governments 
alike  in  their  nature  should  promise  each  other ;  a 
consideration  whereby  you  will  greatly  oblige  the 
Government  of  this  country  if  you  will  lay  it  before 
the  President,  assuring  him  of  our  constant  incli- 
nation toward  everything  that  may  lead  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  United  States. 
God  guard  you  many  years. 

MIGUEL  IRIGOYEN, 
FRANCISCO  ANTONIO  DE  ESCALADA, 
MANUEL  OBLIGADO. 
Buenos  Aires,  July  igth,  1816. 

On  December  4th,  1817,  Caesar  A.  Rodney,  John 
Graham,  and  Theodoric  Bland,  accompanied  by  Henry 
M.  Brackenridge,  as  Secretary,  sailed  in  the  United 
States  frigate  "Congress"  from  Hampton  Roads, 
Virginia,  and  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires  on  February 
28th,  1818,  to  accomplish  the  mission  of  observation 
entrusted  to  them  by  President  Monroe.  By  October, 
1818,  the  commission  had  returned  to  the  United 
States.  Graham  was  afterward  United  States  Minister 
to  Brazil ;  he  was  appointed  to  that  post  on  January 
6th,  1819,  and  died  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  while  still  hold- 
ing that  office,  on  July  3 1st,  1820.  On  January  23rd, 
1823,  Rodney  was  confirmed  as  United  States  Min- 
ister to  Buenos  Aires,  and  was  the  first  to  hold  that 
office.  He  left  Philadelphia  on  June  8th,  1823,  on 
the  United  States  frigate  "Congress,"  and  arrived 
there  on  November  i6th,  just  before  the  Monroe 

[102] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Doctrine  was  proclaimed  (December  2nd,  1823).  On 
June  loth,  1824,  he  died  at  Buenos  Aires,  and  the 
next  issues  of  the  Buenos  Aires  papers  appeared  in 
black.  Rivadavia's  oration  over  his  grave  is  a  master- 
piece of  genuine  Pan-American  feeling. 

On  the  1 5th  of  February,  1818,  Rivadavia  wrote  to 
Gregorio  Tagle,  who  had  only  just  before  concluded 
the  Tagle-Irissari  treaty  with  Chile :  "I  was  presented 
to  Lafayette  by  the  Ambassador  of  the  United  States, 
Mr.  Gallatin.  He  lent  me  his  active  cooperation  to 
prevent  the  supposed  mediation  [of  European  powers 
in  the  affairs  of  Latin  America].  He  has  stated  to 
the  Chiefs  of  the  Diplomatic  Body  that  his  Govern- 
ment cannot  fail  to  recognize  South  American  inde- 
pendence in  the  course  of  this  year." 

As  Bland's  report  on  this  mission  to  Buenos  Aires 
is  not  very  well  known,  and  is  noteworthy  as  showing 
the  friendly  relations  then  existing  between  Argentina 
and  the  United  States,  the  following  extract  there- 
from may  prove  of  interest: — 

REPORT  OF  THEODORIC  BLAND,  ESQ., 
ON  SOUTH  AMERICA. 

BUENOS  AIRES. 

BALTIMORE,  2nd  November,  1818. 
SIR: 

The  fair  prospects  which  seemed  to  be  open- 
ing upon  some  portions  of  the  people  of  South 
America ;  the  lively  sympathy  for  their  cause,  felt 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

by  citizens  of  the  United  States;  and  the  deep 
interest  of  our  country  in  the  fate  of  those  prov- 
inces, where  colonial  rule,  or  independent  freedom, 
seems  to  have  been  put  to  issue,  and  contested 
with  all  the  energy  which  such  a  stake  never  fails 
to  excite,  justly  attracted  the  most  serious  atten- 
tion of  the  government.  In  whatever  disposition 
of  mind  the  South  American  contest  and  its  scenes 
were  contemplated ;  whether  with  feelings  of  be- 
nevolence, and  with  the  best  wishes,  or  with  re- 
gret, and  under  a  sense  of  injury,  the  first  thought, 
that  which  appeared  most  naturally  to  arise  in  the 
mind  of  every  one,  was  the  want  of  information  as 
to  the  actually  existing  state  of  things.  A  new 
people  were  evidently  making  every  possible 
effort  against  their  transatlantic  masters,  and  pre- 
paring themselves  to  claim  a  recognition  in  the 
society  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  In  this  strug- 
gle, each  contending  party  endeavoring  to  strike 
his  antagonist  beyond  the  immediate  area  of  the 
conflict,  our  commercial  rights  had  frequently  re- 
ceived a  blow,  and  our  municipal  regulations  were 
sometimes  violated.  New  and  fertile  regions,  rich 
and  extensive  channels  of  commerce  were  appar- 
ently about  to  be  opened  to  the  skill  and  enter- 
prise of  the  people  of  the  United  States ;  as  to  all 
which,  their  feelings  and  their  interests  seemed  to 
require  to  be  gratified  with  further  information. 
Under  these  considerations  it  became  the  earnest 
wish,  and  was  deemed  the  right  and  duty  of  our 
Government  to  explain  the  views  it  had,  in  some 
of  its  measures  ;  by  timely  representations  and  re- 
monstrances, to  prevent  the  further  injury  which 
our  commercial  and  other  rights  were  likely  to 

[104] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

sustain ;  and  to  procure  correct  intelligence  as  to 
the  existing  state  of  affairs  in  those  parts  of  our 
Continent,  where  the  revolutionary  movement 
had  attracted  the  most  attention  and  excited  the 
strongest  interest. 

For  this  purpose,  three  persons,  of  whom  I  had 
the  honor  to  be  one,  were  selected  and  sent  in  a 
public  ship  to  South  America — who  being,  among 
other  things,  directed  that,  "if,  while  in  Buenos 
Aires,  they  should  find  it  expedient  or  useful, 
with  reference  to  the  public  service,  that  one  or 
more  of  them  should  proceed  overland  to  Chile, 
they  were  authorized  to  act  accordingly."  They 
did,  therefore,  at  Buenos  Aires  take  into  consider- 
ation the  expediency  and  utility  of  going  to  Chile, 
and  did  there  determine,  that,  under  the  existing 
circumstances,  it  would  be  expedient  and  useful 
for  one  or  more  of  them  to  go  to  that  country. 
In  consequence  of  which  I  crossed  the  Andes, 
and  having  returned,  it  now  becomes  my  duty  to 
communicate  a  statement  of  such  facts,  circum- 
stances and  documents  as  I  have  been  able  to 
collect,  and  which  presented  themselves  as  most 
likely  to  be  of  importance,  or  in  any  manner  useful 
to  the  nation. 

We  sailed  in  the  United  States  frigate,  the 
"Congress,"  from  Hampton  Roads  on  the  4th  of 
December,  1817,  and  touched,  as  directed,  at  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  where  we  delivered  the  despatches 
committed  to  our  charge  to  Mr.  Sumpter,  the 
Minister  of  the  United  States  resident  there. 
After  a  stay  of  a  few  days,  we  proceeded  thence 
direct  for  the  River  Plate,  which  we  ascended  in 

[105] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

the  "Congress"  as  far  as  Montevideo.  Mr.  Graham 
and  myself  visited  that  city  and  found  it,  with  the 
country  immediately  around,  to  the  extent  of 
about  three  miles,  in  the  actual  possession  of  a 
Portuguese  army,  under  the  command  of  General 
Lacor.  We  were  treated  by  the  General  with 
politeness,  and  an  offer  was  made  by  him  of  per- 
mission to  procure  there,  every  facility  we  might 
want  to  convey  us  thence  to  Buenos  Aires,  and 
also  of  leave  to  obtain  from  the  ship  every  re- 
freshment and  accommodation  we  might  want 
Finding  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  "Con- 
gress" to  proceed  much  further  up  the  river, 
owing  to  there  not  being  a  sufficient  depth  of 
water  for  her  over  a  bar  between  Montevideo  and 
Buenos  Aires,  which  traverses  the  river  entirely, 
and  on  which  it  is  only  eighteen  feet  deep,  we 
took  passage  thence  in  a  small  vessel  and  landed 
at  Buenos  Aires  on  the  28th  day  of  February  last 
[1818]. 

After  consulting  and  advising  together,  as  to 
the  extent,  object,  and  manner  of  executing  our 
instructions,  it  seemed  to  us,  that  no  time  should 
be  lost  in  presenting  ourselves  to  the  Government, 
or  chief  constituted  authorities  of  the  place ;  and, 
in  making  known  to  them  all  these  subjects,  which 
we  were  directed  to  present  to  their  view.  In  ar- 
ranging those  points,  it  was  deemed  most  proper, 
in  the  first  place,  to  express  the  friendly  and 
neutral  disposition  of  our  Government,  and  to 
place  in  a  fair  and  amicable  point  of  view  those 
measures  which  it  had  been  supposed  were  likely 
to  be  interesting,  or  materially  to  effect  the  feel- 
ings, or  the  claims  of  the  people  of  the  River 

[106] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Plate  ;  and  then  to  present  the  injuries  many  of  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  had  sustained,  and 
the  infractions  of  their  laws,  which  had  been  com- 
mitted by  armed  vessels,  assuming  the  name  and 
character  of  patriots,  belonging  to  the  independent 
governments  of  South  America,  and  to  seek  the 
information  which  our  Government  had  directed 
us  to  obtain ;  and  which  it  had  been  deemed  most 
advisable  to  procure  from  the  public  functionaries 
themselves  as  far  as  practicable. 

Accordingly,  after  ascertaining  the  names  and 
style  of  the  principal  personages  in  authority,  we 
called  on  his  honor  El  Senor  Don  Gregorio  Tagle, 
the  Secretary  of  State ;  and  having  made  known 
to  him  who  we  were,  and  expressed  our  wish  to 
have  an  interview  with  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
country,  a  day  and  hour  was  appointed  for  the 
purpose,  when  we  called,  and  were,  accordingly, 
introduced  by  the  Secretary  of  State  to  His  Ex- 
cellency, El  Senor  Don  Juan  Martin  de  Pueyrre- 
ddn,  the  Supreme  Director  of  the  United  Provinces 
of  South  America.  After  the  interchange  of  some 
complimentary  expressions  of  politeness,  good 
wishes,  and  friendly  dispositions,  we  made  knowir 
to  the  Director,  in  general  terms,  the  character  of 
special  agents,  in  which  we  had  been  sent  by  our 
Government  to  communicate  with  him ;  and  that 
our  communications  might  be  either  with  himself 
or  with  his  Secretary.  The  Director  replied,  that 
they  would  be  received  in  a  spirit  of  brotherly 
friendship,  and  in  that  form  and  through  either  of 
those  channels  which  we  should  deem  most  con- 
venient. 

[107] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

In  a  short  time  after  our  introduction  to  the 
Director,  and  in  about  a  week  after  our  arrival,  we 
waited  on  the  Secretary  of  State,  as  being  the 
most  formal,  and  respectful,  mode  of  making  our 
communications  to  this  new  and  provisional  revo- 
lutionary government.  We  stated  to  the  Secre- 
tary, that  our  Government  had  not  viewed  the 
struggle  now  pending  between  the  provinces  of 
South  America  and  Spain,  merely  as  a  rebellion  of 
colonists ;  but  as  a  civil  war,  in  which  each  party 
was  entitled  to  equal  rights  and  equal  respect; 
and  that  the  United  States  had,  therefore,  assumed 
and  would  preserve  the  most  impartial,  and  the 
strictest  good  faith,  a  neutral  position ;  and  in  the 
preservation  of  this  neutrality,  according  to  the 
established  rules  of  the  law  of  nations,  no  rights, 
privileges,  or  advantages  would  be  granted  by  our 
Government  to  one  of  the  contending  parties 
which  would  not,  in  like  manner,  be  extended  to 
the  other.  The  Secretary  expressed  his  appro- 
bation of  this  course ;  but  in  an  interview  subse- 
quent to  the  first,  when  the  neutral  position  of  the 
United  States  was  again  spoken  of,  he  intimated 
a  hope  that  the  United  States  might  be  induced 
to  depart  from  its  rigid  neutrality  in  favor  of  his 
Government  —  to  which  we  replied,  that  as  to 
what  our  Government  might  be  induced  to  do,  or 
what  would  be  its  future  policy  toward  the  patriots 
of  South  America  we  could  not,  nor  were  we 
authorized  to  say  anything. 

[Here  follows  a  long  report  of  verbal  inquiries 
addressed  by  the  Commissioners  to  the  Secretary 
on  the  subject  of  Amelia  Island.] 

[108] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

To  which  the  Secretary  replied,  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Buenos  Aires  had  not  before  been 
informed,  or  heard  of  the  abuses  committed  by 
those  who  had  taken  possession  of  Amelia  Island 
and  Galveston ;  that  it  had  no  connection  what- 
ever with  those  who  had  exercised  any  authority 
at  either  of  those  places,  and  that  the  removal  of 
those  establishments  could  not  fail  to  be  attended 
with  good  consequences  to  the  patriot  cause,  by 
preventing  any  improper  imputation  being  cast  on 
it;  and  therefore  his  Government  could,  certainly, 
only  see  in  that  measure  of  the  United  States  the 
manifestations  towards  it  of  the  most  friendly  dis- 
position. We  stated  to  the  Secretary,  that  it  had 
been  understood,  that  many  unprincipled  and 
abandoned  persons,  who  had  obtained  commis- 
sions as  privateers  from  the  independent  patriot 
Government,  had  committed  great  depredations 
on  our  commerce,  and  had,  evidently,  got  such 
commissions,  not  so  much  from  any  regard  to  the 
cause  of  independence  and  freedom,  as  with  a  view 
to  plunder;  and  that  we  entertained  a  hope,  that 
there  would  be  a  due  degree  of  circumspection 
exercised  by  that  Government  in  granting  com- 
missions which,  in  their  nature,  were  so  open  to 
abuse. 

The  Secretary  replied,  that  there  had  hitherto 
been  no  formal  complaint  made  against  any  of 
the  cruisers  of  Buenos  Aires  ;  and  that  if  any  cause 
of  complaint  should  exist,  his  Government  would 
not  hesitate  to  afford  proper  redress,  on  a  pre- 
sentation and  proof  of  the  injury;  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Buenos  Aires  had  taken  every  possible 

[109] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

precaution  in  its  power,  in  such  cases,  that  it  had 
established  and  promulgated  a  set  of  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  government  of  its  private 
armed  vessels,  a  copy  of  which  should  be  furnished 
us ;  and  that  it  had,  in  all  cases,  as  far  as  possible, 
enjoined  and  enforced  a  strict  observance  of  those 
regulations  and  the  law  of  nations. 

We  stated  to  the  Secretary,  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  had 
manifested  a  very  favorable  disposition  towards 
the  patriot  cause  in  South  America ;  and  the 
Government,  also,  had  every  disposition  to  treat 
the  patriot  authorities  with  the  justice,  dignity  and 
favor  which  they  merited,  that  although  our  Gov- 
ernment had,  for  the  present,  determined  on  ad- 
hering to  a  strict  and  impartial  neutrality  between 
the  contending  parties,  it  might  yet  deem  it  pol- 
itic and  just  hereafter  to  adopt  other  measures; 
and  therefore,  with  a  view  to  regulate  its  conduct 
and  policy  with  perfect  good  faith  and  candour,  as 
well  as  with  regard  to  its  neutrality,  as  with  regard 
to  any  other  measures  it  might  deem  advisable  to 
take,  it  had  charged  us,  as  special  agents,  to  seek 
and  endeavor  to  obtain,  in  this  country,  such  in- 
formation as  to  the  actual  state  of  things,  as  would 
enable  it  to  act  with  correctness,  precision,  and 
understandingly  in  whatever  course  it  may  here- 
after pursue We  assured  the  Secretary, 

that  our  Government  sought  this  information  from 
an  experience  of  the  want  of  it,  and  in  the  spirit 
of  the  most  perfect  amity;  that  until  the  com- 
mencement of  the  present  revolutionary  move- 
ments in  that  country,  it  had  been  so  comparatively 

[no] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

locked  up  from  the  eye,  observation  and  inter- 
course of  every  foreign  nation,  that  the  real  state 
of  things  in  it  had  been  but  very  imperfectly,  and, 
in  some  respects,  were  wholly  unknown ;  that  the 
friendship  so  openly  and  decidedly  expressed  by 
a  consideradle  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  furnish  conclusive  proof  of  the  spirit 
of  good-will  in  which  this  information  was  sought ; 
and,  in  itself,  was  a  guarantee  that  their  Govern- 
ment would,  under  no  circumstances,  use  the 
communications  that  might  be  made  for  improper 
or  unfriendly  purposes  towards  the  people  of  that 
country.  But,  if  that  Government  should  thinl 
proper  to  note  any  communications  it  shoul 
make,  as  private  and  confidential,  we  pledged  our- 
selves that  our  Government  would  never  suffer  it 
to  go  to  the  public ;  if,  indeed,  there  could  be 
wanting  any  other  more  solemn  and  decided  man- 
ifestation of  respect,  on  its  part,  than  the  very  act 
itself  of  our  having  been  sent  in  a  public  ship  of 
war  to  have  this  intercourse  with  them.  The  Sec- 
retary, in  reply,  said  that  his  Government  had  the 
greatest  confidence  in  the  friendly  dispositions  of 
that  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  the  people  of 
the  two  countries  were  friends  toward  each  other 
as  brothers ;  felt  as  such,  and  would  act  toward 
each  other  as  brothers ;  that  the  information  asked 
for  would  certainly  be  granted  ;  .  .  .  .  that,  as  re- 
garded foreign  nations,  they  had,  hitherto,  had  no 
official  communication  with  any  of  them ;  and 
their  relations  with  all,  except  Spain,  were  those 
of  mere  peace,  such  as  were  obvious  to  the  world, 
without  any  treaty  or  stipulation  whatever 

[in] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

But  this  chapter  cannot  be  closed  without  quoting 
an  important  dispatch  written  in  this  same  year,  1817, 
to  James  Monroe,  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  by  one  of  the  greatest  of  South  Americans, — 
Bernardo  O'Higgins, — which  reads  as  follows:  — 

SANTIAGO  DE  CHILE, 

April  ist,  1817. 
MOST  EXCELLENT  SIR  : 

The  beautiful  kingdom  of  Chile  having  been 
reestablished  on  the  I2th  day  of  February  last  by 
the  army  of  the  United  Provinces  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  under  the  command  of  the  brave  General 
Don  Jose  de  San  Martin,  and  the  supreme 
direction  of  the  state  being  conferred  on  me  by 
choice  of  the  people,  it  becomes  my  duty  to  an- 
nounce to  the  world  the  new  asylum  which  these 
countries  offer  to  the  industry  and  friendship  of 
the  citizens  of  all  nations  of  the  globe. 

The  inhabitants  of  Chile,  having  thus  reassumed 
their  natural  rights,  will  not  hereafter  submit  to 
be  despoiled  of  their  just  prerogatives,  nor  tolerate 
the  sordid  and  pernicious  policy  of  the  Spanish 
cabinet  In  its  numerous  population,  and  the 
riches  of  its  soil,  Chile  presents  the  basis  of  a  solid 
and  durable  power,  to  which  the  indepeneence  of 
this  precious  portion  of  the  New  World  will  give 
the  fullest  security.  The  knowledge  and  resources 
of  the  neighboring  nation  of  Peru,  which  has  re- 
solved to  support  our  emancipation,  encourage 
the  hope  of  the  future  prosperity  of  these  regions, 

[112] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

and  of  the  establishment,  on  liberal  grounds,  of  a 
commercial  and  political  intercourse  with  all  na- 
tions. If  the  cause  of  humanity  interests  the 
ings  of  Your  Excellency,  and  the  identity  of  the 
principles  of  our  present  contest  with  those  which 
formerly  prompted  the  United  States  to  assert  in- 
dependence disposes  your  Government  and  peo- 
ple favorably  towards  our  cause,  Your  Excellency 
will  always  find  me  most  earnestly  desirous  of 
promoting  the  commercial  and  friendly  relations 
of  the  two  countries,  and  of  removing  every  ob- 
stacle to  the  establishment  of  most  perfect  har- 
mony and  good  understanding. 

God  guard  you  many  years. 

BERNARDO  O'HiGGiNS. 


CHAPTER  II 

CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA  WHO 

TOOK  PART  IN  THE  LATJN-AMERICAN  WAR 

OF  INDEPENDENCE,   1810-1826 

IT  should  always  be  remembered,  in  discussing  the 
United  States  of  America,  who  took  part  in  the 
Latin-American  Wars  of  Independence,  that  the 
United  of  States  of  America  was  at  that  time  in  a  very 
different  position  from  England  or  France,  which 
countries  furnished  so  many  more  volunteers  to  that 
noble  cause.  During  three  years  of  the  period  in 
question  the  United  States  was  herself  at  war.  Yet 
during  this  time  the  brave  Baltimorean,  Alexander 
Macaulay,  laid  down  his  life  for  the  freedom  of  Co- 
lombia at  Popayan.  During  all  this  period  the  United 
States  was  itself  expanding  and  opening  up  vast  tracts 
of  land  for  cultivation  and  settlement.  Yet  more 
vessels  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes  entered  the  harbor 
of  Buenos  Aires  in  1810  than  in  1910;  there  were 
more  American  than  English  ships  in  the  harbor  of 
Buenos  Aires  in  1824,  and  far  more  on  the  west  coast 
of  South  America  in  1813  than  in  1913. 

Let  us  now  briefly  discuss  the  careers  of  a  few 
typical  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America  who 
struggled  for  the  freedom  of  their  brothers  in  the 
South. 


INTER. AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

First  and  foremost  comes  Charles  Whiting  Woos-  J 
ter,  Rear-Admiral  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Chilean  navy.  He  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, in  1780,  being  the  grandson  of  General 
David  Wooster,  who  was  one  of  the  eight  Brigadier- 
Generals  first  named  by  the  United  States  of  America 
in  1776,  and  the  son  of  Thomas  Wooster,  who  was 
born  at  Danbury,  Connecticut,  July  soth,  1751. 
When  only  eleven  years  old  he  went  to  sea,  and  when 
he  was  twenty-one  was  in  command  of  the  ship  "  Fair 
American"  of  New  York,  which  arrived  in  Philadel- 
phia from  Surinam  on  November  I7th,  1801.  Later, 
according  to  the  Chilean  historian  Vicuna  Mackenna, 
he  was  "captain  of  the  port  of  New  York,  with  the 
title  of  Colonel,"  and  in  1812  we  find  him  again  sail- 
ing the  Spanish  Main,  in  command  of  the  United 
States  privateer  "Saratoga."  From  1812  to  1815, 
when  he  sailed  the  seas  in  command  of  her,  he  took 
twenty-two  British  vessels,  including  the  British  let- 
ter of  marque  "Rachael"  off  La  Guaira,  after  a  cele- 
brated naval  action.  These  captures  may  explain  why 
Cochrane  so  disliked  Wooster,  and  the  sneering  allusion 
to  him  in  Julian  Corbett's  Life  of  Cochrane.  When  the 
War  of  1812  was  over  we  find  him  again  returning  to 
peaceful  maritime  pursuits ;  he  arrived  at  Philadelphia 
from  Liverpool  on  April  2nd,  1816,  in  command  of 
the  ship  "Halcyon"  after  a  fifty-days'  voyage. 

The  South  American  wars  for  independence  had 
reached  a  critical  stage.    The  United  Provinces  of  the 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Rio  de  la  Plata  alone  were  free  from  the  Spanish 
forces  when  the  year  1816  began.  Chile,  Peru,  and 
what  are  now  the  Republics  of  Colombia,  Venezuela 
and  Ecuador,  were  still  filled  with  King  Ferdinand's 
forces.  King  John  VI  reigned  over  Portugal,  the 
Algarves  and  Brazil,  and  was  soon  —  on  December 
3rd,  1817  —  to  sign  the  Holy  Alliance  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro.  The  end  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  in  Europe 
encouraged  the  Government  of  Madrid  to  make  every 
effort  to  retain  their  American  colonies,  which  still 
exterhed  from  Florida  to  Southern  Chile. 

On  January  i/th,  1816,  Jose  Miguel  Carrera  ar- 
rived at  Annapolis  after  a  sixty-three  days'  voyage 
from  Buenos  Aires.  Not  long  before,  President  Mad- 
ison had  issued  his  famous  proclamation  of  Septem- 
ber 1 5th,  1815,  forbidding  the  export  of  arms  and 
ammunition  to  South  America.  (A  century  later, 
President  Wilson  issued  various  neutrality  procla- 
mations ;  but  they  did  not  prevent  twenty  Harvard 
graduates  from  dying  for  the  Allies.)  Long  before 
Madison's  proclamation,  citizens  of  the  United  States 
of  America  were  taking  a  vigorous  part  in  the  South 
American  wars  for  independence.  Alexander  Macau- 
lay  had  been  captured  and  shot  by  the  Spaniards  at 
Pasto,  Colombia,  on  January  26th,  1813.  Samuel 
William  Taber  had  invented  a  submarine  boat  for  the 
patriots  of  Buenos  Aires,  and  had  been  imprisoned  by 
the  Royalists  at  Montevideo  while  in  their  service,  to- 
gether with  his  fellow  countryman,  John  Vincent  War- 

[116] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

dell,  who  was  a  captain  of  a  batallion  of  light  infantry 
in  the  service  of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata.  Taber  died  on  November  8th,  1813,  near 
Buenos  Aires.  The  activities  of  United  States  citi- 
zens in  Chile  in  1813  will  be  stated  presently.  Thus 
the  United  States  had  not  been  indifferent  to  South 
American  freedom. 

Carrera  was  received  by  President  Madison,  and 
dined  with  him  in  the  White  House,  on  January  26th, 
1816;  and  now  began  his  unceasing  propaganda  in 
the  United  States  in  favor  of  Chilean  independence. 
He  had  two  ships  built  for  the  cause,  which  he  later 
brought  to  Buenos  Aires ;  andpje  enlisted  the  sym- 
pathy of  many  adventurous  young  citizens  of  the 
United  States^  in  those  days  when  three-quarters  of 
our  foreign  commerce  was  carried  under  the  Stars 
and  Stripes,  which  flew  in  almost  every  harbor  of  the 
world,  from  Mauritius  to  Riga.  Both  Vicuna  Mac- 
kenna  and  Garcia  Reyes  (in  his  "Memoria  sobre  la 
primera  escuadra  nacional,"  Santiago,  1846)  state 
that  Carrera  inspired  Wooster  to  come  to  Chile ;  and 
it  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  when  we  consider  Carrera's 
enthusiasm  and  Wooster's  sanely  adventurous  tem- 
perament. Besides,  Wooster's  wife  had  just  died ; 
and  the  sea  was  in  his  blood,  for  the  old  General 
Wooster  had  traded  to  the  West  Indies  when  Con- 
necticut was  only  a  colony.  So  on  November  28th, 
1817,  Wooster  sailed  from  New  York  on  his  armed 
bark  "Columbus"  with  a  cargo  of  sixty-six  cases  of 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

guns,  forty-seven  artillery  grenades,  sixty-one  barrels 
of  powder,  312  barrels  of  cannon  balls,  309  cases 
thereof, —  and  much  peaceful  cargo,  such  as  391 
cases  of  crockery  and  ninety-seven  reams  of  news- 
print paper.  The  New  York  Evening  Post  for  Friday, 
November  28th,  1817,  comments  on  her  sailing  as 
follows :  "Sailed  on  Wednesday  last,  the  elegant  cor- 
vette brig  '  Columbus,'  Charles  W.  Wooster  comman- 
der, with  a  number  of  passengers,  bound  on  a  com- 
mercial voyage  to  the  northwest  coast  of  America 
[Madison's  proclamation  was  still  in  effect,  and  no  one 
liked  to  commit  an  "overt  act"  against  Spain],  thence 
to  Canton,  and  back  to  the  United  States.  We  are 
authorized  to  say,"  continues  the  enterprising  New 
York  reporter,  "that  this  vessel,  in  point  of  naval 
architecture,  equipment,  and  sailing,  has  perhaps 
never  been  excelled  by  any  that  has  before  left  this 
port" 

On  February  4th,  1818,  the  "Columbus"  arrived 
at  Buenos  Aires,  consigned  to  Messrs.  Zimmerman, 
Lynch  &  Co.,  whose  senior  partner,  Mr.  John  Chris- 
tian Zimmerman,  of  New  York  City  (1786-1857),  had 
arrived  in  Buenos  Aires  on  the  "Kemp"  of  Balti- 
more, on  September  1st,  1815,  with  a  large  supply  of 
munitions  of  war,  and  shortly  before  Wooster' s  ar- 
rival two  boats  had  reached  Buenos  Aires  on  the  same 
day,  December  i6th,  1817,  with  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion for  his  firm, —  one  with  powder  from  Baltimore, 
the  other  with  188  cases  of  guns  from  Salem. 

[118] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Wooster  may  have  met  a  relative  of  his  by  mar- 
riage in  Buenos  Aires.  His  cousin  Julia  had  married, 
on  October  6th,  1811,  David  Charles  de  Forest,  of 
Huntington,  Connecticut,  who  had  been  in  business 
in  Buenos  Aires  since  February,  1 802 ;  but  though 
she  had  returned  to  New  Haven  nearly  a  year  before, 
in  April,  1817,  her  husband  did  not  leave  Buenos 
Aires  until  March,  1818.  It  is,  however,  almost  cer- 
tain that  Wooster  saw  Carrera  while  in  the  River 
Plate.  (That  active  Chilean  had  arrived  in  Buenos 
Aires  from  the  United  States  in  February,  1817,  and 
remained  there  and  in  Montevideo  until  his  arrest,  on 
March  29th,  1818.)  Possibly  he  saw  the  United  States 
Commissioners,  Rodney,  Graham  and  Bland,  who 
reached  Buenos  Aires  February  27th,  1818.  Their 
secretary,  Henry  M.  Brackenridge,  describes  the  trade 
between  the  United  States  and  Buenos  Aires  in  1818 
as  follows :  — 

From  the  United  States  they  receive  lumber  of 
all  kinds,  and  furniture  of  every  description, 
coaches  and  carriages  of  all  sorts,  cod-fish,  mack- 
erel, shad  and  herring,  leather,  boots  and  shoes, 
powder  and  munitions  of  war,  and  naval  stores, 
ships  and  vessels,  particularly  those  calculated  for 
their  navy  or  for  privateers. 

I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  the  exact  date  when 
Wooster  left  Buenos  Aires  on  the  "Columbus";  it 
was  probably  towards  the  end  of  March,  1818,  and 
was  possibly  not  unconnected  with  Carrera's  arrest. 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  "Columbus"  arrived  at  Valparaiso  on  April  25th, 
1818,  when  the  Chileans  were  beginning  to  form  their 
much-needed  navy;  for,  though  both  Chacabucom 
and  Maipu  had  been  won  on  land,  further  progress 
towards  complete  independence  was  difficult  without 
sea  power.  Only  four  months  before  Wooster's  ar- 
rival in  Chile  3,400  veteran  Spanish  troops  had  been 
transported  from  Peru  to  Talcahuano,  which  was 
still  held  by  the  Royalist  forces ;  and  the  absolute  in- 
dependence of  Chile  had  only  been  proclaimed  some 
two  months  and  a  half  before,  on  February  I2th, 
1818.  The  Royalist  fleet  was  not  driven  away  from 
the  neighborhood  of  Valparaiso  until  almost  the  day 
of  Wooster's  arrival.  A  United  States  bark,  the 
"Ariel,"  from  Baltimore,  had  forced  the  blockade  on 
February  I3th,  and  decoyed  her  pursuer — a  Spanish 
warship — under  the  guns  of  the  Playa  Ancha  battery, 
which  succeeded  in  injuring  her. 

Chile  was  still  in  a  rather  unsettled  condition,  and 
it  was  only  after  considerable  negotiations  that  the 
Chilean  Government  bought  the  "Columbus"  on 
August  6th,  1818,  from  Zacharias  W.  Nixon,  who 
seems  to  have  acquired  her  from  Wooster  shortly  be- 
fore. On  August  loth  she  was  renamed  the  "Arau- 
cano,"  and  on  the  same  day  Wooster  was  given  the 
rank  of  captain  in  the  Chilean  navy,  the  "Araucano" 
being  placed  under  his  command  on  August  I4th. 
Bernardo  O'Higgins,  then  Supreme  Director  of  Chile, 
issued  a  proclamation  to  the  new  navy  on  September 

[120] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

7th,  1818,  in  which  he  mentions  the  North  Ameri- 
cans who  were  lending  their  services  to  the  Chilean 
squadron. 

Wooster  was  now  one  of  the  three  captains  in  the 
Chilean  navy.  On  September  i/th,  1818,  one  of  the 
captains,  John  Higginson,  retired,  leaving  Wooster 
and  Captain  William  Wilkinson  second  under  Ad- 
miral Blanco  Encalada  in  command  of  the  Chilean 
navy.  On  October  loth,  1818,  the  Chilean  squadron 
left  Valparaiso.  Wooster  commanded  the  frigate 
"Lautaro"  of  fifty  guns  and  350  men,  then  the  second 
largest  ship  of  the  Chilean  navy.  The  "Araucano" 
was  in  command  of  a  young  adventurer,  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  named  Raymond  Mor- 
ris, who  had  taken  part  in  the  battle  of  Chacabuco 
under  the  patriot  forces  in  February  of  that  same 
year.  The  "Araucano"  carried  sixteen  guns  and  no 
men.  The  shores  of  Valparaiso  were  crowded  with 
people  of  all  ages  and  sexes  to  see  the  squadron  sail 
to  attack  the  Spanish  fortress  of  Talcahuano.  On  the 
day  after  sailing  they  lost  sight  of  land,  being  carried 
along  by  a  fresh  breeze  from  the  Southeast.  Blanco 
Encalada  now  opened  his  sealed  instructions,  in  ac- 
cordance with  which  he  directed  his  course  to  the 
Island  of  Mocha,  where  he  was  to  remain  to  await  the 
enemy's  convoy.  The  voyage  continued  without  in- 
cident for  several  days,  the  squadron  crossing  the 
route  frequented  by  ships  proceeding  from  the  Straits 
of  Magellan  to  Callao.  Daily  drills  were  held  and  the 

[121] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

squadron's  efficiency  considerably  improved.  On  the 
evening  of  the  I4th,  when  the  squadron  was  about 
ten  to  twelve  leagues  distant  from  the  Island  of  Quiri- 
quina,  the  "Araucano"  was  detached  and  ordered  to 
sail  to  the  Island  of  Santa  Maria,  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  continuing  his  course  with  the  "San  Martin" 
and  "Lautaro."  In  the  early  morning  of  the  2/th 
they  learned  from  the  English  whaling  ship  "Shake- 
speare" that  the  Spanish  war  frigate  "Maria  Isabel" 
had  passed  into  Talcahuano.  The  "Maria  Isabel" 
had  belonged  to  the  Russian  fleet,  and  was  sold  by 
the  Czar,  Alexander  I,  to  the  King  of  Spain,  with  five 
other  ships  and  five  frigates,  to  aid  him  in  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Spanish  monarchy  in  America,  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  Holy  Alliance.  She  was  brilliantly  cap- 
tured by  the  Chilean  navy  in  Talcahuano  harbor  on 
October  28th,  1818,  Wooster  being  the  first  to  board 
her.  This  was  a  month  before  Admiral  Cochrane  ar- 
rived in  Chile.  In  the  official  report  which  Admiral 
Encalada  made  to  the  Supreme  Director,  O'Higgins, 
on  the  5th  of  November,  1818,  he  highly  commends 
Captain  Wooster,  stating  that  he  maintained  the  high- 
est discipline,  his  men  showing  their  valor  by  executing 
manoeuvres  with  promptness  and  perfection,  making 
every  sacrifice  to  secure  success.  This  message  was 
reprinted  in  the  Gazeta  de  Buenos  Aires  for  Decem- 
ber 3rd,  1818.  On  November  i/th  the  .squadron  tri- 
umphantly reentered  Valparaiso,  though  the  "Chaca- 
buco"  did  not  arrive  until  November  22nd,  with  two 
captured  Spanish  transports. 

[122] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

On  November  28th,  1818,  Lord  Cochrane  arrived 
at  Valparaiso  on  the  British  merchant  vessel  "Rose," 
and  on  December  nth,  1818,  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  Chilean  navy.  At  that  time  Wooster  was 
still  in  command  of  the  frigate  "Lautaro,"  which  had 
then  forty-four  guns  and  a  crew  of  228.  Cochrane  at 
once  got  into  difficulty  with  Raymond  Morris,  who 
continued  in  command  of  the  "Araucano,"  suspend- 
ing him  and  distributing  his  crew  among  the  other 
ships  of  the  squadron  for  refusing  to  raise  anchor 
eighteen  hours  after  they  had  been  ordered  to  do  so. 
Cochrane  had  fought  against  the  United  States  and 
seemed  to  have  had  but  little  affection  toward  people 
from  that  country.  On  the  pth  of  January,  1819,  Coch- 
rane received  instructions  to  proceed  to  blockade 
Callao,  and  on  the  I4th,  as  the  squadron  was  about  to 
sail,  Captain  Wooster  reported  to  Cochrane  that  his 
own  vessel  could  not  do  so,  since  his  crew  was  dis- 
contented, as  they  had  very  little  clothes  and  no 
money,  and  that  he  thought  that  in  such  an  exigency 
his  vessel  ought  not  to  leave  port  Cochrane  answered 
him  that  his  order  must  be  obeyed  that  night,  and 
that  he  could  take  everything  he  wanted  from  Coch- 
rane's  own  ship,  even  to  the  mast  and  sails  if  he 
thought  them  necessary  for  the  "Lautaro."  Wooster 
could  do  nothing  else  in  such  a  crisis  than  to  resign, 
and  Captain  Guise  was  named  in  his  place.  Wooster's 
reasoning  was  fully  justified  when  a  mutiny  broke  out 
on  the  "Lautaro"  on  the  next  day. 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Although  Wooster  continued  in  Chile  in  a  whal- 
ing enterprise,  he  did  not  reenter  the  Chilean  navy 
until  the  i8th  of  March,  1822,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed Chief  of  the  Chilean  naval  forces.  Early 
in  April,  1822,  he  sailed  to  the  southward  in  com- 
mand of  the  naval  forces  of  General  Bauchef's  expe- 
dition against  the  Island  of  Chiloe,  which  was  still 
held  by  the  Spanish  forces.  He  arrived  at  Valparaiso 
on  the  26th  of  October.  Three  days  before,  when 
the  "Lautaro"  had  entered  the  harbor  of  Talca- 
huano,  a  serious  mutiny  broke  out,  the  crew  refusing 
to  obey  Wooster's  orders  to  accompany  two  trans- 
ports which  were  taking  provisions  and  supplies  to 
the  expeditionary  forces  at  Valdivia.  In  the  mean- 
while Cochrane  had  returned  to  Valparaiso  on  June 
the  2nd. 

On  November  27th,  1825,  Wooster  sailed  from 
Valparaiso  on  the  expedition  to  reduce  the  Island  of 
Chiloe  in  command  of  the  bark  "Aquiles,"  where  he 
behaved  with  great  bravery.  In  the  attack  of  Janu- 
ary nth,  1826,  Freeman  Oxley,  a  United  States 
citizen,  was  killed  by  fire  from  the  battery  of  San 
Carlos  while  serving  on  the  Chilean  man-of-war 
"Aquiles,"  while  endeavoring  to  board  a  launch  of 
the  enemy's.  A  little  over  two  years  before  this,  in 
the  engagement  between  the  Chilean  ship  "Monte- 
zuma"  and  the  Royalist  Spanish  ship  from  Chiloe, 
the  "General  Quintanilla,"  on  December  nth,  1823, 
his  bravery  received  special  commendation,  and  the 

[124] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Chilean  historian  Barros  Arana  states  that  at  the  time 
of  his  death  he  was  beginning  a  brilliant  career  in  the 
Chilean  navy  for  himself  by  his  intrepidity  at  all  cost. 

Another  of  Wooster's  exploits  was  the  conveying 
in  1826  of  General  Santa  Cruz  to  Bolivia  (which  then 
had  a  seacoast),  of  which  country  he  had  been  made 
President  while  Bolivian  Minister  to  Chile. 

In  the  year  1829  Wooster  was  in  command  of  the 
Chilean  navy,  in  which  year  he  was  made  Rear- 
Admiral  and  retired  from  the  service. 

Perhaps  the  best  way  of  characterizing  the  activities 
of  Wooster  in  Chile  would  be  to  quote  prominent 
Chileans'  testimonials  of  his  services  to  their  country. 
On  September  i8th,  1835,  ex-President  Francisco 
Vicuna  wrote  as  follows  to  Wooster: — 

You  informed  me  that  the  time  is  soon  coming 
when  you  leave  for  your  native  land ;  this  news 
has  been  very  painful  to  me  and  to  all  my  family; 
and  when  I  think  of  this  separation,  after  eighteen 
years  of  the  closest  friendship,  my  house  having 
been  the  first  which  you  entered  in  this  capitol, 
my  heart  is  moved  as  I  review  the  benefits  which 
my  native  land  has  received  by  your  services, — 
but  can  the  risks,  the  victories,  the  honor  and 
other  noble  qualities  of  Admiral  Wooster  be  ever 
forgotten  by  the  honored  patriots  in  Chile?  The 
history  of  this  republic  will  not  fail  to  recognize 
who  this  man  was  and  what  he  did  for  our  inde- 
pendence ;  all  his  services,  all  worthy  of  the  highest 
gratitude  and  recognition,  are  engraved  in  the 
memory  of  the  .best  of  my  fellow-countrymen. 

[125] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Who  does  not  remember  the  capture  of  the 
Spanish  frigate  "Maria  Isabel"  in  the  harbor  of 
Talcahuano?  A  valorous  and  risky  act,  but  sus- 
tained and  accomplished  with  bravery.  Who  will 
forget  the  daring  on  this  memorable  day  when  the 
Rear- Admiral  saved  the  ship  "San  Martin,"  which 
had  run  aground  and  was  in  the  greatest  danger 
of  being  lost?  The  mere  name  of  Wooster  drove 
off  every  pirate,  every  Spanish  ship  which  formerly 
lorded  it  on  our  coasts,  causing  every  class  of  in- 
jury and  destroying  our  commerce  completely, 
forever  from  our  shores. 

The  memory  of  good  Chileans  will  be  eternal 
to  tell  the  glories  of  his  triumphs  to  posterity,  due 
largely  to  the  intrepidity  of  our  Rear-Admiral, 
who  in  the  ship  "Lautaro,"  blockading  Valdivia 
and  Chiloe,  still  occupied  by  our  enemies,  in  the 
stormiest  weather  in  those  rough  waters,  so  feared 
by  sailors,  hindered  with  his  indefatigable  con- 
stancy every  reenforcement,  every  communica- 
tion and  every  aid;  and  the  blockaded  were  in 
such  terror  that  the  patriots  who  were  in  these 
places  took  courage  and  thought  that  with  the  aid 
of  our  maritime  forces  that  they  could  throw  off 
the  yoke  of  their  slavery,  as  soon  after  occurred. 

And  can  the  year  1825  be  forgotten  among  us? 
Let  us  recall  to  mind  the  end  of  our  struggles  and 
the  work  of  the  integrity  of  Chilean  liberty  accom- 
plished. And  who  had  the  greater  part  in  the 
actions  of  that  day  in  which  the  Archipelago  of 
Chiloe  was  cleared  of  the  flood  of  Spaniards  who 
had  fled  there  after  we  drove  them  out  from  our 
continent.  Wooster  it  was  whose  ever  excessive 
daring  triumphed  in  the  most  difficult  actions ;  on 

[126] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

board  the  warship  "Aquiles"  he  fearlessly  ad- 
vanced before  the  castles  and  batteries  which 
raked  all  the  bay  with  a  terrible  fire ;  on  another 
side  the  gunboats  kept  up  a  quick  attack,  but 
Wooster,  like  an  aroused  lion,  rose  above  the  fire 
and  death  which  were  on  all  sides  of  him  and  con- 
centrated all  the  enemy's  fire  on  one  place.  Their 
flank  was  therefore  left  exposed,  by  means  of  which 
the  land  forces  were  able  to  disembark,  and  in  a 
moment  General  Freire  routed  all  the  enemy's 
forces,  thus  placing  the  seal  on  the  work  of  the 
War  of  Independence. 

After  General  Pinto  left  the  Government,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  law  the  supreme  command  of 
the  republic  fell  on  me,  and  I  had  planned  to 
write  a  biography  of  the  famous  men  of  our  revo- 
lution, in  whose  pages  you  were  to  occupy  a  very 
prominent  place,  and  considering  through  this 
the  important  services  which  the  nation  owed  to 
you,  I  saw  fit  to  direct  that  you  be  commissioned 
Rear-Admiral  of  the  Chilean  fleet,  and  I  have  the 
honor  of  having  signed  the  commission  which 
confirms  this  result  of  my  fully  justified  line  of 
conduct 

Neither  I  nor  my  family  shall  ever  lessen  the 
regard  in  which  we  hold  you ;  we  will  always  re- 
member your  constant  and  firm  loyalty  in  the  re- 
cent disturbances.  Your  sincere  friend, 

FRANCISCO  VICUNA. 

On  June  3Oth,  1835,  General  Pinto  wrote  to  Woos- 
ter from  Serena  as  follows  :  — 

I  have  received  and  read  with  real  sorrow  your 
welcome  letter  of  the  I2th  inst,  in  which  you  in- 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

form  me  that  you  were  soon  leaving  for  the  United 
States,  asking  me  for  a  statement  of  your  services 
which  you  rendered  to  our  republic  during  the 
long  time  that  you  have  served  her. 

These  services  are  well  known,  and  there  is  no 
Chilean  who  is  ignorant  of  them.  You  were  one 
of  the  founders  of  our  squadron  in  the  year  1818  ; 
you  obtained  command  of  the  warship  "Lautaro," 
and  the  capture  of  the  Spanish  frigate  "Maria 
Isabel,"  with  a  convoy  of  2,500  men  was  the  fruit 
of  this  first  campaign  in  which  you  won  distin- 
guished praise  from  the  Rear-Admiral  of  the 
squadron ;  whenever  he  ordered  you  to  undertake 
the  difficult  blockade  of  Chiloe  and  Valdivia  you 
performed  it  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Government, 
so  that  no  Spanish  ship  could  reach  any  of  those 
that  you  were  watching. 

In  the  year  1825  the  second  expedition  to 
Chiloe  and  its  glorious  result,  which  completed 
the  War  of  Independence,  you  played  a  promi- 
nent part  by  the  readiness,  intelligence  and  brav- 
ery with  which  the  "Aquiles,"  which  was  under 
your  command,  fought  the  fortresses  there,  while 
the  troops  were  disembarking.  When  the  garri- 
son in  the  next  year  rose  in  rebellion  against  Na- 
tional authority,  you  were  in  command  of  the 
squadron  which  led  the  expedition  that  subdued 
them,  rendering  also  in  this  campaign  worthy  and 
important  services,  which  helped  to  completely 
establish  order  in  all  the  Archipelago. 

When  the  Ministry  of  War  and  Marine  was  un- 
der my  charge  in  the  years  1824  and  1825,  and 
during  the  time  when  I  was  charged  with  the  Su- 
preme Government  of  the  Republic,  in  the  years  of 

[128] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

1827-28  and  a  part  of  1829,  your  conduct  always 
deserved  the  regard  of  the  Government  for  your 
valor,  honor,  zeal  in  the  service  and  precise  com- 
pliance with  the  duties  entrusted  to  you. 

I  will  finish  by  repeating  that  I  am  extremely 
sorry  to  see  a  veteran  of  its  independence  leave 
my  country,  one  who  has  served  her  with  such 
honor  and  constancy  in  the  days  of  risk  and 
danger,  when  a  Spanish  cell  was  generally  the  end 
of  the  career  of  a  patriot.  I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours, 

F.  A.  PINTO. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  Wooster's  ending  with 
that  of  his  fellow-citizens  of  the  United  States  of 
America  who  fought  in  the  early  South  American  na- 
vies. David  Jewett,  of  New  London,  was  Comman- 
der-in-Chief  of  the  Brazilian  navy  when  Wooster  was 
attacking  Chiloe  in  -1826,  and  in  that  same  year 
Jonas  Halstead  Coe,  of  New  Jersey,  entered  the 
Argentine  navy,  in  which  he  soon  afterward  distin- 
guished himself  as  second  in  command  under  the 
famous  Admiral  Brown.  John  Daniel  Daniels,  of 
Baltimore,  had  served  in  the  Colombian  navy  for 
many  years ;  he  was  given  a  pension  for  life  by  Vene- 
zuela in  1845.  Coe  married  a  daughter  of  the  dis- 
tinguished Argentine  General  Balcarce,  and  died  in 
1864  on  his  beautiful  estate  in  Entre  Rios,  with  his 
children  and  grandchildren  about  him.  Jewett  passed 
away  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  1842,  laden  with  wealth 
and  honors.  Both  Paul  and  William  Delano,  of 

[129] 
10 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Massachusetts,  who  had  served  with  Wooster  in  the 
Chilean  navy,  ended  their  long  lives  in  peace  and 
plenty  in  their  Chilean  homes.  Wooster  alone  died 
in  poverty,  in  1848,  far  away  from  his  only  son,  an 
officer  in  the  United  States  army.  And  at  his  funeral 
the  American  and  Chilean  flags  were  draped  over  the 
grave  of  one  who,  as  Vicuna  Mackenna  fitly  observes, 
"was  second  only  to  Cochrane  among  the  famous  sail- 
ors who  came  from  the  Atlantic  to  place  the  Pacific 
Ocean  under  the  shade  of  our  [the  Chilean]  flag."  * 

At  least  two  citizens  of  the  United  States  of 
America  laid  down  their  lives  for  Chile  during  her 
war  for  independence.  Lieutenant  Charles  Eldridge, 

*BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

"  Manifiesto  que  da  en  su  despedida  de  Chile  el  Contra- 
Almirante  D.  C.  W.  Wooster."  Santiago  de  Chile,  1836 :  Im- 
prenta  de  la  Opinion.  Exceedingly  rare.  Only  known  copy  in 
the  National  Library  at  Santiago  de  Chile.  Contains  letters  to 
Wooster  quoted  above  from  Freire,  Pinto,  and  Francisco  Vi- 
cuna. I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Dr.  Carlos  Silva  Cruz, 
the  National  Librarian,  for  permission  to  consult  this  pamphlet. 

"  Galeria  Nacional  6  Colleccion  de  Biografias  y  Retratos  de 
Hombres  Ce'lebres  de  Chile."  Escrita  por  los  principales  literatos 
del  pais.  Dirigida  y  publlcada  por  Narciso  Desmadril.  Miguel 
Luis  Amunategui,  Revisor.  Tomo  II,  pp.  160-165,  contains 
an  excellent  short  biography  of  Wooster  by  Vicuna  Mackenna. 

Figueroa,  Pedro  Pablo  :  "  Diccionario  Biografico  de  Estran- 
jeros  en  Chile."  Santiago,  1900. 

Uribe,  Luis  (Admiral  of  the  Chilean  Navy)  :  "  Nuestra  Ma- 
rina Militar."  Su  Organizacion  y  Campanas  durante  la  guerra 
de  la  Independencia.  Valparaiso,  1910. 

Other  references  will  be  found  in  the  text. 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

who  had  formerly  served  in  the  United  States  navy, 
and  who  had  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires  from  Baltimore 
on  the  ship  "Clifton"  on  the  9th  of  February,  1817, 
was  killed  in  the  attack  by  General  Las  Heras  at 
Talcahuano  on  December  6th,  1817.  The  other,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  Freeman  Oxley,  who  was  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Chilean  navy. 

Daniel  Carson,  who  had  formerly  been  a  lieutenant 
in  the  United  States  navy,  and  who  came  out  with 
Eldridge  on  the  "Clifton,"  was  wounded  at  the  attack 
on  Talcahuano,  at  the  time  when  Eldridge  was 
killed.  He  afterward  commanded  a  company  of 
marines  in  Lord  Cochrane's  descent  on  Guayaquil, 
which  occured  on  November  25th,  1819.  Lieutenant 
Manning  was  also  wounded  in  the  same  attack  on 
Talcahuano,  and  Ezekiel  Jewett  and  William  Ken- 
nedy also  served  in  the  Chilean  navy.  The  brothers 
Paul  and  William  Delano,  who  came  from  Massa- 
chusetts, and  whose  descendants  have  played  such  a 
noteworthy  and  prominent  part  in  the  history  of  Chile, 
both  served  in  the  Chilean  squadron  during  the  war 
for  independence,  apparently  entering  it  in  July, 
1819,  and  William  Delano  was  one  of  the  three 
United  States  officers  who  accompanied  General  San 
Martin  to  Peru  from  Chile  in  August,  1820,  com- 
manding the  transports  in  that  expedition.  He  also 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  Peruvian  campaign  of 
that  year  and  the  next.  On  July  22nd,  1813,  Cap- 
tain Henry  Ross,  a  United  States  engineer,  was  de- 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

clared  to  be  "benemerito  de  la  Patria"  by  the  Chilean 
Government. 

We  have  alluded  in  a  previous  chapter  to  Samuel 
B.  Johnston,  who  arrived  at  Valparaiso  on  November 
2 1st,  1811,  after  a  voyage  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  days  from  New  York  in  the  "Galloway,"  with  the 
printing-press  from  the  United  States.  Johnston's 
Chilean  experiences  are  detailed  in  a  fascinatingly 
adventurous  style  in  a  book  published  by  R.  I.  Curtis 
at  Erie,  Pa.,  in  1816,  which  is  probably  the  first  book 
published  in  the  United  States  of  America  relating 
to  Chile.  It  is  entitled  "  Letters  Written  During  a 
Residence  of  Three  Years  in  Chile :  containing  an 
account  of  the  most  remarkable  events  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary struggles  in  that  Province,  with  an  interesting 
account  of  the  loss  of  a  Chilean  ship,  and  a  brig-of-war 
by  mutiny,  and  the  consequent  imprisonment  and 
suffering  of  several  citizens  of  the  United  States,  for 
six  months,  in  the  dungeons  of  Callao ;  by  Samuel  B. 
Johnston,  formerly  in  the  service  of  the  Patriots."  As 
it  almost  wholly  relates  to  Johnston's  services  in  the 
Chilean  navy,  as  a  result  of  which  not  merely  was 
Chilean  citizenship  conferred  on  him,  but  also  the  fol- 
lowing letter  was  addressed  to  Captain  Edward  Barne- 
wall,  who  formerly  commanded  the  brig  in  question, 
by  the  Supreme  Chilean  Junta,  it  will  be  considered 
in  this  chapter.  It  is  noteworthy  as  showing  the 
prominent  part  played  by  citizens  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  Chilean  War  of 

[132] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Independence.    The  letter  in  question,  which  is  dated 
December  3rd,  1813,  reads  as  follows:  — 

We  have  received  your  official  communication 
relative  to  the  loss  of  the  ship  "Pearl"  and  the 
brig  "Colt."  We  are  fully  convinced  that  this 
took  place  in  consequence  of  a  treasonable  con- 
spiracy, and  are  also  apprized  of  the  hardships  you 
have  endured  in  captivity.  The  country  is  con- 
vinced of  your  merit  and  its  representatives  are 
deliberating  in  what  manner  to  reward  and  dis- 
tinguish those  who  have  labored  with  fidelity  in  its 
cause. 

May  God  preserve  you  many  years. 

JOSE  MIGUEL  INFANTE, 
AGUSTIN  DE  EYZAGUIRRE, 
JOSE  IGNACIO  CIENFUEGOS. 

Talca,  December  3,  1813. 

It  appears  from  this  book  that  in  April,  1813,  the 
Chilean  Government  purchased  the  United  States 
armed  brig  "Colt,"  which  mounted  eight  long  twelve- 
inch  guns,  ten  nine-pound  cannonades,  two  long  six- 
inch  guns  and  two  swivels.  She  had  a  crew  of  ninety 
men,  sixteen  of  whom  were  citizens  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  Their  names  and  ranks  were : 
William  Barnet,  sailing  master;  Samuel  Dusenbury, 
midshipman  ;  Timothy  Chase,  master's  mate,  of  the 
"Pearl";  Henry  Heacock,  master's  mate;  John  S. 
Waters,  carpenter;  Peter  N.  Hanson,  gunner;  John 
Heck,  interpreter;  Henry  Smith,  seaman;  William 
McKoy,  seaman;  Sevelo  Denton,  seaman;  James 

[133] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Dawmas,  seaman ;  Moses  Pierce,  seaman ;  Le  Roy 
Laws,  seaman ;  Willis  Forbes,  seaman ;  Jeremiah 
Green,  seaman ;  Frederick  Rasmonson,  seaman. 

Her  former  chief  officer,  who  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  her,  was  also  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  named  Edward  Barnewall.  Johnston 
himself  was  commissioned  as  "Teniente  de  Fragata," 
first  lieutenant  in  the  Chilean  navy.  The  "Colt"  was 
ready  for  sea  on  April  26th,  but  was  treacherously 
captured  by  Spaniards  from  Peru,  which  was  still  held 
by  Spain,  on  May  2nd,  and  her  crew  were  held  in  cap- 
tivity until  their  release  by  a  decree  of  the  Viceroy, 
Pezuela,  of  September  I3th,  1813.  On  November 
6th,  1813,  they  returned  to  Valparaiso,  and  Johnston 
reached  Santiago  on  December  8th,  1813.  He  left 
Chile  in  the  "Essex  Junior"  on  April  2/th,  1814, 
having  had  Chilean  citizenship  conferred  on  him  in 
the  previous  month.  As  we  have  already  seen,  the 
"Colt"  was  back  in  Valparaiso  when  Admiral  Porter 
arrived  there  on  March  I5th,  1813. 

In  Argentina  we  find  Dr.  Franklin  Rawson,  of 
Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  rendering  important 
services  in  the  war  for  independence.  He  was  the 
father  of  the  distinguished  Dr.  Guillermo  Rawson, 
who  was  in  the  cabinet  of  Argentina  under  President 
Mitre,  and  for  whom  the  town  of  Rawson  in  the 
Patagonian  territory  of  the  Chubut  is  named. 

John  Anthony  King  was  born  in  New  York  City  in 
1803.  He  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires  in  1817  from  Balti- 

[134] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

more,  probably  on  a  vessel  sent  out  thence  by  the  Argen- 
tine commissioner,  Aguirre.  He  was  commissioned  a 
flag-bearer  (bandero)  by  the  Supreme  Director,  Pueyr- 
reddn,  in  1818,  and  was  afterwards  promoted  to  be 
an  adjutant  and  colonel  in  the  Argentine  army.  He 
took  part  in  the  Peruvian  and  other  campaigns,  and 
was  also  captain  in  the  service  of  Upper  Peru  in  Bo- 
livia. His  fascinating  book,  "Twenty-four  Years  in 
Argentina,"  is  recommended  to  all  who  desire  a  vivid 
narrative  of  an  interesting  period  in  that  great  coun- 
try's history.  Although  John  Halstead  Coe,  of  New- 
ark, New  Jersey  (1805-1864),  is  best  known  for  his 
having  been  appointed  by  General  Rivera  comman- 
der-in-chief  of  the  Uruguayan  navy  in  1841,  he  had 
served  since  1826  in  the  Argentine  navy,  distinguish- 
ing himself  particularly  therein  in  1827,  under  that 
gallant  Irishman,  William  Brown.  Coe  married,  on 
July  7th,  1828,  at  Trinidad,  the  daughter  of  the  Ar- 
gentine General  Balcarce,  and  had  large  estates  in  the 
province  of  Entre  Rios.  Coe  was  the  sixth  in  descent 
from  the  Puritan  immigrant  Robert  Coe.  A  dispatch 
from  the  United  States  Consul-General  John  Murray 
Forbes  to  Secretary  of  State  John  Quincy  Adams, 
of  December  4th,  1820,  mentions  a  Commodore 
Taylor,  of  Baltimore,  in  the  Buenos  Aires  service. 

We  have  already  seen  that  thirty  citizens  of  the 
United  States  of  America  accompanied  Miranda  on 
his  expedition  to  Venezuela  in  1806.  In  the  year 
1818  John  Daniel  Daniels,  of  Baltimore  (1786-1865), 

[135] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

became  a  captain  in  the  Colombian  navy,  Colombia 
then  including  what  are  now  the  sister  republics  of 
Venezuela  and  Ecuador.  In  1822  Daniels,  who  was 
then  acting  as  the  agent  for  the  Colombian  Govern- 
ment in  the  United  States  of  America,  purchased  the 
beautiful  corvette  "Hercules,"  built  by  Mr.  Eckford, 
of  New  York  City,  in  the  fall  of  1822.  He  embarked 
from  that  place  for  La  Guaira  on  October  2nd,  1822. 
The  "Hercules"  afterward  took  the  name  of  "Boli- 
var"; Senora  Antonia  Bolivar,  sister  of  the  Liberator 
Simon  Bolivar,  came  out  on  her  on  this  voyage,  ac- 
companied by  her  daughter  Josephine  and  son  Paul. 
The  vessel  carried  twenty-five  thirty-two-pounders, 
such  as  were  then  usually  carried  by  the  United 
States  corvettes,  besides  two  brass  twenty-four-pound 
cannon  on  her  forecastle.  Her  crew  consisted  of  two 
hundred  and  twenty  splendid  seamen,  principally  of 
the  crew  from  the  United  States  frigate  "Mace- 
donian," which  had  been  for  the  preceding  three  years 
off  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  having  arrived  at 
Valparaiso  from  Boston  on  January  28th,  1819.  An 
incident  that  Henry  Hill  tells  of  her  encounter  with 
Lord  Cochrane  at  Callao  in  1820  is  worth  repeating  : — 

When  Lord  Cochrane  was  blockading  Callao 
with  three  ships  of  war,  it  was  reported  at  Val- 
paraiso that  he  had  said  he  was  able  to  enforce  the 
blockade,  and  would  not  allow  the  "Macedonian" 
or  any  ship-of-war  or  merchant  ship  to  enter. 
Captain  Downes,  U.  S.  N.,  commanding  the 
"  Macedonian,"  had  previously  announced  his  in- 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

tention  to  sail  for  Callao  on  a  certain  day,  and  when 
these  reports  came  to  him  he  with  difficulty  re- 
strained himself,  merely  remarking  that  he  should 
leave  at  the  appointed  time  and  should  be  happy 
to  take  letters,  etc.  But  he  said  to  me,  "I  will  tell 
you  my  plan.  If  Cochrane  attempts  to  stop  me  I 
shall  pour  a  broadside  into  him,  aiming  all  my 
guns  to  one  point,  hoping  to  sink  him  at  once. 
If  I  succeed  in  this,  I  can  easily  dispose  of  the 
other  two  ships."  He  sailed  on  the  day  set;  and 
on  approaching  Lord  Cochrane's  ship  the  "Mace- 
donian" passed  her  stern,  the  two  commanders 
standing  on  their  respective  quarter-decks,  speak- 
ing-trumpets in  hand,  and  Lord  Cochrane  shouted 
"Hope  Captain  Downes  is  well."  "Thank  you; 
left  Lady  Cochrane  well,  eight  days  ago."  The 
"Macedonian"  then  ran  under  the  lee  of  the 
other  ship,  backed  her  topsails,  and  Captain 
Downes  sent  his  first  lieutenant  to  Lord  Coch- 
rane, with  his  compliments.  He  then  filled  away 
and  entered  the  harbor.  When  the  "Mace- 
donian" had  anchored,  Lord  Cochrane  sent  Cap- 
tain Forster,  his  flag-captain,  who  was  his  brother- 
in-law,  with  his  respects  to  Captain  Downes.  Cap- 
tain Forster  was  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that 
the  cabins  had  been  removed  and  a  gun  placed 
wherever  there  was  room  for  one,  and  that  the 
men  were  all  at  quarters. 

To  return  to  Daniels.  In  1845  Venezuela  passed 
a  law  granting  him  a  pension  for  life.  Lieutenant 
Christie,  formerly  of  the  United  States  navy,  served 
under  him  on  the  "Bolivar"  in  1822.  It  must  have 
been  about  this^time  that  Lieutenant  Hawley,  of  Bal- 

[137] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

timore,  a  brother  of  Miss  Betsey  Hawley  of  that  city, 
was  also  serving  in  that  navy. 

On  the  26th  day  of  January,  1813,  the  young 
Alexander  Macauley,  whose  family  seem  also  to  have 
resided  in  Baltimore,  although  he  was  born  in  New 
York  City,  and  who  had  been  serving  for  at  least  two 
years  in  the  Colombian  patriot  army,  was  shot  at 
Pasto,  Colombia,  by  the  Spanish  forces  who  had 
taken  him  prisoner.  His  brilliant  victory  over  the 
Spaniards  of  Popayan,  on  April  2/th,  1811,  is  still 
remembered,  and  is  favorably  commented  on  by 
Colombian  historians.  A  short  time  thereafter  he  was 
ordered  by  the  patriot  General  Cabal  to  go  to  the  aid 
of  President  Joaquim  Caicedo,  who  was  then  im- 
prisoned in  Pasto,  and  after  several  checks  he  was 
victorious  at  Juanambu  and  Buesaco.  By  the  armis- 
tice of  July  26th  Caicedo  was  freed  from  Pasto,  and 
not  long  afterwards  Macaulay  won  another  victory 
over  the  royalist  forces  at  Calambuco,  on  August 
1 2th,  1811.  He  had  the  grade  of  colonel  in  the 
Colombian  army. 

William  Yeates  and  Nathaniel  Doolett  served  in 
the  Brazilian  navy  about  the  year  1820. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  WILKES  EXPLORING  EXPEDITION  IN  BRAZIL,  AR- 
GENTINA, CHILE  AND  PERU  IN  1838-1839 

A /THOUGH  that  sterling  Pan-American,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  had,  as  early  as  1828,  while 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  advocated 
an  exploring  expedition  to  the  South  Seas,  it  was  not 
until  May  i8th,  1836,  that  an  Act  of-Congress  of  the 
United  States  of  America  authorized  an  expedition 
"for  the  purpose  of  exploring  and  surveying  in  the 
great  Southern  Ocean  in  the  important  interests  of 
our  commerce  embarked  in  the  whale  fisheries  and 
other  adventures  in  that  ocean,  as  well  as  to  de- 
termine the  existence  of  all  doubtful  islands  and 
shoals,  and  to  discover  and  accurately  fix  the  position 
of  those  which  lie  in  or  near  the  track  pursued  by  our 
merchant  vessels  in  that  quarter."  This  expedition 
was  the  first  of  its  character  ever  undertaken  by  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  its  aims  were  strikingly 
similar  to  that  of  Diego  de  Barrenechea,  when  he 
sailed  forth  from  Callao,  Peru,  in  September,  1772,  to 
Tahiti,  under  the  auspices  of  the  great  Peruvian  Vice- 
roy Amat  y  Junient.  The  interest  displayed  in  her 
sister  republics  seventy-five  years  ago  by  the  United 
States  of  America  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Lieuten- 
ant Charles  Wilkes,  U.  S.  N.  (1798-1877),  who  was 

[139] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

ordered  on  August  nth,  1838,  to  command  the 
squadron  on  this  expedition  was  instructed  to  visit 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  Cape  Frio,  the  Rio  Negro,  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  and  Valparaiso.  Possibly  their  touching  at 
these  South  American  points  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
Joel  Roberts  Poinsett  was  then  Secretary  of  War  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  Twenty-eight  years 
before  he  had  been  appointed  the  first  representative 
of  the  United  States  of  America  to  Argentina,  Chile 
and  Peru,  and  his  career  in  Chile  and  Argentina  has 
been  outlined  in  an  article  in  the  Pan-American  Bul- 
letin for  September,  1911. 

The  journeys  of  the  adventurous  Ohioan  John  N. 
Reynolds  in  Southern  Chile  in  1830  and  1831  had 
much  to  do  with  inspiring  this  expedition.  The 
squadron  sailed  from  Norfolk,  Virginia,  on  August 
1 3th,  1838.  It  consisted  of  the  sloops  of  war  "Vin- 
cennes"  and  "Peacock,"  the  store-ship  "Relief,"  the 
brig  "Porpoise,"  and  the  tenders  "Seagull"  and 
"Flying  Fish."  Many  distinguished  scientists  were 
on  board  —  probably  as  notable  a  group  as  could 
have  been  sent  from  the  United  States  of  America  at 
that  time.  Dr.  Charles  Pickering  was  the  naturalist 
of  the  expedition ;  he  made  important  contributions 
to  its  success,  especially  by  his  writings  on  anthro- 
pology and  on  the  study  of  the  geographical  distribu- 
tion of  animals  and  plants,  to  the  latter  especially,  as  af- 
fected by  or  as  evidence  of  the  operations,  movements, 
and  diffusion  of  the  races  of  man.  A  graduate  of 

[140] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Harvard  University,  he  was  a  nephew  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  (Timothy  Pickering),  who  had  instructed 
the  United  States  Minister  at  Lisbon  in  1797  to  make 
a  complete  report  on  Brazil.  His  nephew,  Dr.  Charles 
Pickering  Bowditch,  is  an  authority  on  the  Mayas  of 
Yucatan. 

Horatio  Hale  was  the  philologist  and  ethnographer 
of  the  expedition.  While  an  undergraduate  at  Har- 
vard (where  he  graduated  in  1837)  ne  nacl  written  a 
small  pamphlet  on  the  Algonquin  language.  His  chief 
contribution  to  the  permanent  results  of  the  expedi- 
tion was  a  collection  of  very  valuable  material  relating 
to  the  ethnology  and  dialects  of  the  Patagonian  tribes 
encountered  by  the  expedition. 

But  the  most  distinguished  scientist  on  board  was 
James  Dwight  Dana  (1813-1895),  who  was  for  over 
forty  years  Silliman  Professor  of  Natural  History  in 
Yale  University,  and  is  generally  considered  one  of 
the  most  renowned  men  of  science  of  modern  times. 
He  was  president  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  received  high 
honors  from  many  European  governments.  The  early 
inspirations  he  received  from  his  scientific  explorations 
and  studies  in  South  America  may  be  compared  to 
those  that  aroused  the  genius  of  his  friend  Darwin 
but  six  years  before,  and  he  loved  to  dwell  on  the 
impressions  that  the  lofty  Chilean  and  Peruvian  Cor- 
dilleras had  made  on  him  when  he  addressed  his  stu- 
dents at  Yale,  the  university  that  welcomed  Francisco 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

de  Miranda,  pioneer  of  South  American  liberty,  in 
1 784,  and  which  received  the  bounty  of  David  C.  de 
Forest,  who  was  in  Buenos  Aires  as  early  as  1807, 
and  who  died  in  New  Haven  in  1824. 

On  November  23rd,  1838,  the  expedition  reached 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  whence  it  sailed  January  6th,  1839. 
Captain  Wilkes  notes  that  "the  Brazilians  have  a 
strong  bias  in  favor  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the 
American  Government  generally.  They  think  the 
time  is  coming  which  will  unite  the  people  of  this 
continent  in  a  distinct  national  policy."  Captain 
Wilkes  notes  that  Rio  de  Janeiro  had  then  250,000 
people,  and  that  in  1835  a  sailing  ship  had  gone  from 
New  York  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  the  phenomenal  time 
of  twenty-nine  days.  On  January  6th,  1839,  the  ex- 
pedition sailed  from  Rio,  where  many  interesting 
specimens  and  much  data  had  been  collected ;  and  on 
the  1 8th  of  January  they  passed  opposite  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  On  the  25th  of  the  same 
month  they  were  off  Carmen  de  Patagones  on  the  Rio 
Negro,  whence  they  sailed,  after  exploring  the  en- 
virons somewhat.  They  found  several  citizens  of  the 
United  States  of  America  settled  near  there,  on  Feb- 
ruary 3rd.  On  February  27th  the  expedition  left 
Nassau  Bay,  and  after  meeting  with  very  tempestuous 
weather  near  Cape  Horn  on  April  I4th,  1839,  the 
"Relief"  arrived  at  Valparaiso;  the  "Vincennes" 
followed  her,  reaching  that  Chilean  port  on  May  I5th, 
1839.  Valparaiso  then  had  about  30,000  inhabitants ; 

[142] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

there  were  then  eighty  vessels  flying  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  engaged  in  the  Chilean  trade,  and  a  con- 
siderable number  of  United  States  merchants  doing 
business  there,  among  whom  were  Mr.  Augustus 
Hemenway,  the  benefactions  of  whose  family  are  so 
well  known  in  and  near  Boston,  Massachusetts,  who 
had  come  to  Valparaiso  in  1830.  President  Bulnes 
and  the  great  Chilean  statesman  Portales  visited  the 
ships  and  were  much  pleased  with  them.  Wilkes 
wrote  as  follows  of  Valparaiso :  "I  have  had  some 
opportunity  of  knowing  Valparaiso,  and  contrasting 
its  present  state  with  that  of  1821  and  1822.  It  was 
then  a  mere  village  of  straggling  ranchos.  It  has  now 
the  appearance  of  a  thickly  settled  town,  with  a  pop- 
ulation of  30,000,  five  times  the  number  it  had  then. 
Most  of  the  buildings  are  of  one  story,  and  built  of 
sun-dried  brick.  Santiago  contains  60,000  inhabi- 
tants, and  is  increasing  in  wealth  and  population." 

From  Valparaiso  Dana  wrote  to  his  sister  Harriet 
on  May  29th,  1839:  "We  left  Santiago  in  a  gig  for 
the  foot  of  the  mountain,  which  was  distant  about 
fifteen  miles.  A  ride  of  two  hours  brought  us  to  our 
stopping  place.  Here  we  procured  a  guide  who  was 
accustomed  to  the  route,  and,  mounting  our  horses, 
commenced  the  ascent.  Our  path  at  first  ran  along 
a  deep  valley,  through  which  a  little  water  was  gur- 
gling quietly  along ;  only  a  temporary  quiet,  however, 
as  the  torrents  rush  down  the  gorge  with  tremendous 
violence  during  the  thawing  of  the  mountain  snows. 

[143] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Winding  our  way  up  the  sides  of  the  valley,  we 
reached  an  open  square,  covered  here  and  there  with 
a  little  shrubbery,  along  which  our  route  continued 
for  an  hour  or  two  with  little  to  interest  or  attract  at- 
tention. As  we  advanced,  however,  the  scenery  of 
the  mountains  increased  in  grandeur,  and  the  acclivity 
became  more  steep  and  difficult  for  the  horses.  Our 
ears  were  often  saluted  with  a  noise  much  resembling 
the  watchman's  rattle,  which,  on  nearer  approach,  was 
found  to  proceed  from  guanacos,  an  animal  of  the 
deer  species,  which  lives  on  the  mountain.  After 
about  four  hours'  toilsome  ride,  we  reached  the  sum- 
mit of  an  elevated  ridge,  from  which  we  looked  down 
on  the  surrounding  country.  It  was  a  most  magnifi- 
cent scene  —  the  fertile  plains  of  Santiago,  the  numer- 
ous mountain  ridges  surrounding  it,  and  towering 
above  all,  the  Andes,  mantled  with  snow  and  streaked 
along  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  make  one  of  the 
most  glorious  prospects  any  country  can  show.  We 
now  turned  to  the  right,  following  the  summit  of  this 
ridge,  making  a  gradual  ascent,  and  in  the  course  of 
half  an  hour  came  in  sight  of  the  snowy  peak  we  had 
before  seen  back  in  Santiago.  A  valley  of  about  4,000 
feet  separated  us  from  it;  and  from  its  bottom  this 
peak  rose  up  to  a  height  of  at  least  8,000  feet,  the 
most  perfect  picture  of  utter  desolation  I  ever  wit- 
nessed. It  was  a  scene  that  I  not  only  saw,  but  could 
feel  through  my  whole  system  —  it  was  so  impressively, 
so  awfully  grand.  It  appeared  like  an  immense  volcano 

[144] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

whose  fires  were  but  just  extinguished.  We  contin- 
ued in  sight  of  the  peak  the  remainder  of  our  route. 
At  4  o'clock  pfk.  we  reached  the  region  of  snow,  and 
a  desolate  region  it  was.  A  few  tufty  Alpine  plants 
were  seen  where  a  streamlet  was  running  down  the 
valleys — all  else  was  dreary  and  lifeless.  We  col- 
lected some  of  the  plants  and  rocks,  and  as  it  began 
to  grow  dark  soon  after  sundown  —  about  6  P.M. — we 
early  prepared  for  our  night's  accommodations.  We 
laid  down  our  furs,  etc.,  which  we  had  brought  up 
under  our  saddles,  and  formed  as  soft  a  place  as  we 
could  to  rest  our  bodies — placed  the  saddles  near  our 
heads  to  keep  off  the  winds,  and  then  snugly  stowed 
ourselves  away  under  three  thick  blankets.  The  winds 
whistled  over  us  by  night,  and  in  the  morning  we 
found  ice  one-half  an  inch  thick  but  a  few  rods  off; 
but  we  were  tolerably  comfortable  and  made  out  to 
get  about  eight  hours'  sleep  out  of  the  twelve  we  were 
in  bed — between  dark  in  the  evening  and  the  next 
morning's  dawn.  Our  poor  horses  stood  up  all  night 
long  without  anything  to  cover  them  and  nothing  to 
eat — an  example  of  the  utter  indifference  of  the  Chil- 
eans to  the  comforts  of  their  animals.  We  finished 
the  small  stock  of  provisions  we  had  with  us  in  the 
morning  and  commenced  our  descent  on  foot,  in  or- 
der to  make  collections  of  specimens  along  the  way. 
Seven  hours  found  us  at  the  foot,  and  in  two  more  we 
reached  Santiago.  The  trip,  though  one  of  exposure, 
had  no  injurious  effects  upon  my  health.  Indeed  I 

[145] 
ii 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

never  felt  better  than  when  up  the  mountain.  We 
only  reached  the  limits  of  perpetual  snow.  The 
mountains  yet  rose  some  four  or  five  thousand  feet 
above  us. 

"  Santiago  is  the  finest  city  in  Chile,  and  much  the 
largest  It  is  the  residence  of  all  the  wealth  and 
aristocracy  of  the  country,  and  some  of  the  houses  are 
very  beautiful ;  the  part  fronting  the  street  never  gives 
any  idea  of  the  richness  of  the  building  within  the 
court" 

From  Valparaiso  the  squadron  proceeded  to  Callao, 
whence  it  sailed  for  Tahiti  on  July  I3th,  1839.  While 
in  Peru  many  points  of  interest  were  visited,  includ- 
ing the  ruins  of  Pachacamac ;  and  Dr.  Pickering 
ascended  the  Andes  to  a  height  of  16,000  feet,  dis- 
covering a  large  ammonite  near  this  altitude.  Dana 
himself  attained  the  height  of  12,000  feet,  and  writes 
thus  of  his  experience:  "The  Andes  were  the  first 
objects  we  saw  on  approaching  the  coast  They  form 
the  background  in  the  Chilean  and  Peruvian  land- 
scape. The  eye  climbs  mountain  beyond  mountain 
in  the  front  of  the  scene,  and  finally  rests  on  the 
snowy  summits  of  this  towering  ridge.  The  general 
character  of  it  was  more  massy,  more  even  in  its  out- 
line, and  unbroken  in  its  surface  than  my  fancy  had 
pictured  to  me.  Here  and  there,  however,  conical 
peaks  tower  aloft,  and  by  their  wide,  turreted  shapes 
and  columnar  structure  diversify  the  character  and 
heighten  the  grandeur  of  the  scene.  I  made  two  ex- 

[146] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

cursions  among  the  Cordilleras,  and  in  one  reached 
an  elevation  of  12,000  feet  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
sleeping  through  a  windy  night  near  several  acres  of 
perpetual  snows.  Water  froze  half  an  inch  thick 
within  a  few  feet  of  us ;  but  the  interest  the  scene  had 
excited,  together  with  a  couple  of  blankets,  and  a  fire 
of  Alpine  plants,  kept  us  comfortable  through  twelve 
hours  of  darkness.  These  Alpine  plants,  as  they  were 
the  first  I  had  seen  of  them,  astonished  and  delighted 
me  with  their  singularities.  Although  regular  flower- 
ing plants,  they  grow  together  in  the  form  of  a  short 
tuft,  the  whole  so  hard  and  the  leaves  so  closely  com- 
pacted that  the  foot  struck  against  them  scarcely 
makes  more  impression  than  on  the  adjoining  rocks ; 
they  can  prevent  in  these  wintry  regions  the  escape  of 
the  little  heat  they  originate.  One  little  flower  par- 
ticularly attracted  my  attention,  and  led  my  mind  up- 
ward to  Him  whose  wisdom  and  goodness  were  here 
displayed.  It  was  scarce  an  inch  high  and  stood  by 
itself,  here  and  there  one,  over  the  bleak,  rocky  soil. 
A  small  tuft  of  leaves  densely  covered  with  down 
above  formed  a  warm  repose  for  a  single  flower  which 
spread  over  it  its  purple  petals.  I  should  delight  to 
add  some  of  these  strange  forms  of  vegetation  to  Ben- 
jamin's flower-garden.  But  they  lose  all  their  pecu- 
liarities in  a  warmer  climate.  Even  the  hard  Alpine 
turf,  a  few  hundred  feet  below,  spreads  out  and  as- 
sumes the  forms  of  the  plants  of  temperate  latitudes.  I 
find  that  these  mountains  are  mostly  composed  of — 

[147] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

I  was  about  to  transgress.  I,  however,  may  state  that 
I  have  been  highly  interested  in  the  geology  of  this 
region,  and  I  only  regret  that  I  had  no  opportunity  to 
make  my  observations  more  extensive  by  crossing  the 
mountains  to  Mendoza,  situated  at  their  eastern  foot. 
Dr.  Pickering,  Mr.  Rich  and  others  who  were  at 
Lima  much  of  the  time  our  vessel  remained  at  Val- 
paraiso, ascended  and  passed  the  summit  of  the  Peru- 
vian Andes.  They  reached  an  elevation  exceeding 
16,000  feet.  I  will  add  one  fact,  as  the  knowledge  of 
it  by  yourself  will  prove  of  no  injury  to  the  expedi- 
tion ;  it  is,  that  Dr.  Pickering  collected  a  large  am- 
monite near  the  summit  of  the  Andes  at  16,000  feet 
elevation.  The  existence  of  extensive  deposits  of  red 
sandstone  and  accompanying  shales  in  this  part  of 
the  Andes  has  long  been  known." 


[148] 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  PAN-AMERICANISM  OF  HENRY  CLAY 

WHEN  on  February  gth,  1852,  Henry  Clay's 
admiring  friends  presented  him  with  a  gold 
medal,  at  the  sunset  of  his  long  and  useful  life,  on  the 
reverse  of  which  were  inscribed  the  dates  by  which  he 
wished  to  be  remembered,  the  two  of  the  fourteen 
that  had  the  most  prominent  place  were  "Spanish 
America,  1822";  and  "Panama  Instructions,  1826." 

The  visitor  to  the  capitol  of  the  United  States  of 
America  sees  hanging  in  one  of  the  large  corridors 
near  the  meeting-place  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives a  large  portrait  of  Henry  Clay,  with  his  index 
finger  pointing  to  South  America  on  a  large  globe  of 
the  world.  It  was  thus  that  he  wished  the  future  law- 
makers of  his  country — those  who  would  control  its 
destiny — to  remember  him. 

This  is  the  man  to  whom  the  distinguished  Argen- 
tine author,  Dr.  Miguel  Cane,  in  his  Introduction  to 
the  1905  edition  of  President  Roque  Saenz  Pena's 
speeches,  says  that  a  statute  should  be  erected  in  every 
South  American  capital  ;  and  that  his  name  —  the 
name  of  the  "noble  and  kind-hearted  Clay" — should 
be  on  one  of  the  streets  in  Buenos  Aires. 

Let  us  see  on  what  actions  these  fellow  Pan- 
Americans,  six  thousand  miles  away,  base  their  regard 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

for  the  great  Kentuckian  who  has  been  dead,  but  not 
forgotten,  for  sixty-five  years. 

On  January  29th,  1816,  while  the  South  American 
wars  for  independence  were  raging,  Henry  Clay,  who 
was  then  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  opposed,  in  a  long 
speech,  the  reduction  of  the  taxes  imposed  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  War  of  1812,  because,  among  other 
reasons,  the  United  States  might  have  openly  "to  take 
part  with  the  patriots  of  South  America."  Nearly  a 
year  later,  on  January  24th,  1817,  he  vigorously  op- 
posed a  bill  intended  to  stop  the  fitting  out  of  armed 
cruisers  in  the  United  States  ports,  on  the  ground 
that  it  might  be  disadvantageous  to  the  South  Amer- 
icans, who  were  still  nobly  maintaining  their  struggle 
for  freedom.  On  December  3rd,  1817,  the  day  be- 
fore the  U.  S.  frigate  "Congress"  sailed  for  Buenos 
Aires  with  Commissioners  Graham,  Bland  and  Rodney 
on  board,  Clay  offered  a  motion  in  the  House,  which 
was  accepted  without  opposition,  instructing  the  com- 
mittee on  the  President's  message  to  inquire  what  was 
necessary  to  secure  the  South  Americans  their  rights 
as  belligerents. 

But  it  was  on  March  24th,  1 8 1 8,  that  his  soundest 
and  most  historically  Pan-American  speech  was  de- 
livered in  the  House  of  Representatives, — when  he 
besought  the  aid  of  the  United  States  for  their  fellow- 
Americans,  for  "eighteen  millions  of  people  struggling 
to  burst  their  chains  and  be  free."  The  nature  of 

[ISO] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

this  classic  oration  can  be  judged  from  the  following 
extract  therefrom : — 

In  the  establishment  of  the  independence  of 
Spanish  America,  the  United  States  have  the 
deepest  interest.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  assert- 
ing my  firm  belief  that  there  is  no  question  in  the 
foreign  policy  of  this  country  which  has  ever  arisen, 
or  which  I  can  conceive  as  ever  occurring,  in  the 
decision  of  which  we  had  or  can  have  so  much  at 
stake.  This  interest  concerns  our  politics,  our 
commerce,  our  navigation.  There  can  not  be  a 
doubt  that  Spanish  America,  once  independent, 
whatever  may  be  the  form  of  the  governments 
established  in  its  several  parts,  these  governments 
will  be  animated  by  an  American  feeling  and 
guided  by  an  American  policy.  They  will  obey 
the  laws  of  the  New  World,  of  which  they  will 
compose  a  part  .... 

We  are  their  great  example.  Of  us  they  con- 
stantly speak  as  of  brothers,  having  a  similar 
origin.  They  adopt  our  principles,  copy  our  in- 
stitutions, and  in  many  instances  employ  the  very 
language  and  sentiments  of  our  revolutionary 
papers. 

But  it  is  sometimes  said  that  they  are  too 
ignorant  and  too  superstitious  to  admit  of  the  ex- 
istance  of  free  government.  This  charge  of  igno- 
rance is  often  urged  by  persons  themselves 
actually  ignorant  of  the  real  condition  of  that 
people.  I  deny  the  alleged  fact  of  ignorance ;  I 
deny  the  inference  from  that  fact,  if  it  were  true, 
that  they  want  capacity  for  free  government ;  and 
I  refuse  assent  to  the  further  conclusion,  if  the 

[151] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

fact  were  true,  and  the  inference  just,  that  we  are 
to  be  indifferent  to  their  fate.  All  the  writers  of 
the  most  established  authority,  Depons,  Hum- 
boldt,  and  others,  concur  in  assigning  to  the  peo- 
ple of  South  America,  great  quickness,  genius,  and 
particular  aptitude  for  the  acquisition  of  the  exact 
sciences,  and  others  which  they  have  been  allowed 
to  cultivate.  In  astronomy,  geology,  mineralogy, 
chemistry,  botany,  and  so  forth,  they  are  allowed  to 
make  distinguished  proficiency.  They  justly  boast 
of  their  Abzate,  Velasques  and  Gama,  and  other 
illustrious  contributors  to  science.  They  have 
nine  universities,  and  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  it  is 
affirmed  by  Humboldt,  that  there  are  more  solid 
scientific  establishments  than  in  any  city  even  in 
North  America.  I  would  refer  to  the  message  of 
the  Supreme  Director  of  La  Plata  [Pueyrreddn]  as 
a  model  of  composition  of  a  State  paper,  chal- 
lenging the  comparison  with  any,  the  most  cele- 
brated, that  ever  issued  from  the  pens  of  Jefferson 

or  Madison 

We  may  safely  trust  to  the  daring  enterprise 
of  our  merchants.  The  precious  metals  are  in 
South  America,  and  they  will  command  the  articles 
wanted  in  South  America,  which  will  purchase 
them.  Our  navigation  will  be  benefited  by  the 
transportation,  and  our  country  will  realize  the 
mercantile  profits.  Already  the  item  in  our  ex- 
ports of  American  manufactures  is  respectable. 
They  go  chiefly  to  the  West  Indies  and  to  South 
America,  and  this  item  is  constantly  augmenting. 

How    clearly  the    allusions   in    this   speech   show 
Clay's  carefully  concise  study  of  Latin-American  his- 

[152] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

tory  and  conditions  !  Joaquin  Velasques  (July  2 1st, 
1732-March  6th,  1786)  was  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  the  many  noted  astronomers  whom  Mexico 
has  produced.  He  was  the  author  of  many  valuable 
works  on  Mexican  and  Californian  natural  history  and 
mineralogy.  His  astronomical  observations  in  Cali- 
fornia, which  are  among  the  very  first  in  that  part  of 
the  world,  where  the  great  Lick  observatory  now  con- 
tinues his  labors,  are  especially  noteworthy  in  view  of 
his  observations  of  the  transit  ot  Venus  on  June  5th, 
1 769.  His  labors  in  connection  with  the  typograph- 
ical and  geodetic  survey  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  with 
whose  superintendence  he  was  charged  in  1774,  are 
the  basis  of  all  the  excellent  systems  of  surveys  for 
which  our  sister  Republic  of  Mexico  is  noted.  In 
1783  he  established  in  Mexico  the  first  schools  of 
mines  in  North  America. 

But  Henry  Clay's  efforts  did  not  stop  with  his 
speech.  On  May  2Oth,  1820,  he  introduced  a  motion 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  to  inaugurate  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  "any  of  the  governments  in 
South  America  which  have  established  and  are  main- 
taining their  independence  of  Spain."  It  passed  by 
a  vote  of  eighty  to  seventy-five.  On  February  6th, 
1821,  Clay  secured  the  passage  of  a  resolution  by  the 
House  of  Representatives  "That  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives participate  with  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  the  deep  interest  which  they  feel  for  the 
Spanish  Provinces  of  South  America,  which  are  strug- 

['53] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

gling  to  establish  their  liberty  and  independence, 
and  that  it  will  give  its  constitutional  support  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States  whenever  he 
may  deem  it  expedient  to  recognize  the  sovereignty 
and  independence  of  the  said  Provinces";  the  first 
clause  of  this  important  legislative  decision  being 
passed  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  to 
twelve,  and  the  second  by  a  vote  of  eighty-seven  to 
sixty-eight. 

As  a  result  of  this  action,  President  Monroe  sent  a 
special  message  to  Congress  on  March  8th,  1822,  and 
"A  resolution  to  establish  foreign  intercourse  with  the 
independent  nations  of  South  America "  was  passed 
by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine  to  one.  This 
measure  became  a  law  on  May  4th,  1822;  and  on 
June  2Oth,  1822,  Secretary  of  State  John  Quincy 
Adams  proposed  to  President  Monroe  that  the  mis- 
sion of  the  United  States  of  America  to  the  Republic 
of  Colombia  should  be  offered  to  Henry  Clay.  He 
informed  the  President  that  "The  Republic  of  Colom- 
bia, and  particularly  Bolivar,  with  whom  Clay  has 
been  in  correspondence,  will  be  flattered  by  his  ap- 
pointment, or  even  by  information  that  he  had  the 
offer  of  it  In  relations  to  be  established  between  us 
and  that  Republic,  Mr.  Clay's  talents  might  be  highly 
useful";  and  the  President  appeared  to  be  well  dis- 
posed toward  this  suggestion.  An  important  event 
in  Pan-American  history  had  occured  the  day  before 
which  rendered  it  imperative  that  the  mission  of  the 

[154] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

United  States  to  the  sister  Repubic  of  Colombia,  in 
whose  beautiful  city  of  Bogota  the  patriot  Antonio 
Narino  had  portraits  of  Franklin  in  his  house  as  early 
as  1793,  should  be  filled  as  soon  as  possible.  It  was 
on  June  ipth,  1822,  that  the  first  formal  act  of  recog- 
nition of  the  South  American  Government  took  place, 
when  Secretary  Adams  presented  Mr.  Samuel  Torres 
to  President  Monroe  as  Charge  d'  Affaires  from  the 
Republic  of  Colombia,  at  the  White  House.  Mr. 
Adams  notes  in  his  diary  that  "Torres  was  deeply 
affected  by  it.  He  spoke  of  the  great  importance  to 
the  Republic  of  Colombia  of  this  recognition,  and  of 
his  assurance  that  it  would  give  extraordinary  gratifi- 
cation to  Bolivar." 

It  was  certainly  gratifying  to  President  Monroe. 
He  invited  Torres,  who  was  then  very  ill  (he  died  in 
Philadelphia  on  July  I5th,  1822,  in  great  distress),  to 
be  seated,  sat  down  by  him,  and  spoke  to  him  with 
kindness,  "which  moved  him  even  to  tears."  He 
assured  him  of  the  great  interest  taken  by  the  United 
States  in  the  welfare  and  success  of  his  country,  and 
of  the  peculiar  satisfaction  with  which  he  received  him 
as  its  representative. 

On  this  very  igth  of  June  a  letter  was  written  to 
Henry  Clay  by  Captain  Eugenio  Cortes,  of  the  Mexi- 
can navy,  which  shows  how  he  was  regarded  in 
Mexico,  enclosing  one  from  the  Emperor  Agustin  de 
Iturbide,  which  shows  how  Clay  was  regarded  in 
Latin  America. 

[155] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

A  year  later  we  find  a  similar  Pan-American  mani- 
festation in  the  following  letter  written  to  the  Charge 
d'  Affaires  of  the  United  States  of  America  from  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  Republic  of  Colom- 
bia, eager  to  show  its  appreciation  of  the  cooperation 
of  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  country, 
which  the  distinguished  Ecuadorian  Rocafuerte  called 
"The  Sister  Republic  of  the  North":  — 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

BOGOTA,  April  25,  1823. 

To  MR.  C.  S.  TODD,  Charge  d'  Affaires : 

The  House  of  Representatives  has  received 
with  the  most  lively  sense  of  gratitude  the  valuable 
present  [an  engraved  portrait  of  Henry  Clay]  you 
have  had  the  goodness  to  offer.  It  duly  appreciates 
the  generous  sentiments  manifested  in  the  ad- 
dress with  which  you  accompanied  it ;  sentiments 
very  worthy  of  the  country  of  Washington  and 
Franklin. 

The  House  will  not  fail  to  pay  that  profound 
tribute  of  respect  which  is  due  to  the  Honorable 
Henry  Clay,  the  intrepid  advocate  of  the  cause  of 
Colombia;  and  while  it  reserves  to  itself  the  oc- 
casion of  manifesting  in  a  more  conspicuous  man- 
ner the  high  esteem  of  which  he  is  worthy,  you 
will  condescend  to  communicate  to  him  the  wishes 
which  the  House  cherishes  for  the  prosperity  of 
the  United  States. 

God  guard  you. 

[Signed]       DOMINGO  CAYCEDO, 

President  of  the  House. 

[156] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

It  was  at  this  time  that  engraved  portraits  of  Henry 
Clay,  with  extracts  from  his  speeches  advocating 
South  American  independence,  were  scattered  broad- 
cast about  the  leading  cities  and  towns  of  South 
America.  One  of  these,  published  in  Buenos  Aires, 
now  hangs  on  the  walls  of  the  United  States  Embassy 
in  that  beautiful  Argentine  capital. 

When  Henry  Clay  became  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  March,  1825,  a  broader 
sphere  of  Pan-American  activity  was  presented  to 
him.  His  zeal  to  promote  the  brotherhood  of  the 
American  nations  had  now  wider  opportunities,  and 
his  responsibility  was  great  in  furthering  what  must 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  main  purposes  of  his  useful 
and  constructive  life.  His  efforts  to  make  the  Con- 
gress of  Panama  in  1826  a  success  from  a  truly  Pan- 
American  point  of  view  are  typical  of  his  sustained 
interest,  which  marks  him  as  the  precursor  of  James 
G.  Elaine,  Joaquim  Nabuco,  and  many  other  great 
Pan-Americans,  whose  happy  influence  leads  us  to 
follow  and  imitate  them. 

As  soon  as  the  intention  of  Simon  Bolivar — who, 
as  we  have  seen,  greatly  admired  Clay —  to  hold  this 
first  parliament  of  all  the  Americas,  which  had  been 
urged  as  early  as  1810  by  Juan  Martinez  de  Rosas  in 
Chile,  by  the  Mexican  Mier,  in  1812,  and  by  the  Junta 
of  Caracas  in  Venezuela,  and  had  since  been  pro- 
moted by  San  Martin  and  Unanue  in  South  and  Valle 
in  Central  America,  became  known  to  him,  he  bent  all 

[-57] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

his  official  and  personal  energies  toward  that  end.  As 
the  historian  Schouler  says,  "His  zeal  won  President 
John  Quincy  Adams's  favor  to  the  plan  and  dissolved 
the  doubts  of  his  fellow-advisers."  Not  all  of  them 
could  have  doubted ;  Rush,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  had  been  most  Pan-American  in  his  con- 
duct as  United  States  Minister  to  England ;  and  At- 
torney-General William  Wirt  had  expressed  himself  as 
the  friend  of  his  fellow-Americans.  Clay  frequently 
consulted  with  Senor  Obregon,  the  Mexican  Minister, 
as  well  as  with  Senor  Salazar,  the  Colombian  Minister, 
and  the  other  Latin- American  representatives  in  Wash- 
ington, including  General  Carlos  deAlvearfrom  Buenos 
Aires — to  whom,  by  the  way,  the  first  special  passport 
ever  issued  by  the  State  Department  was  granted. 

In  1827  the  young  Fernando  Bolivar,  nephew  and 
ward  of  the  great  Liberator,  who  had  had  him  edu- 
cated in  the  United  States  of  America,  at  German- 
town,  Pennsylvania,  and  at  the  University  of  Virginia, 
was  introduced  by  Judge  Peters  to  Henry  Clay. 
Forty-six  years  later  he  noted  in  his  Reminiscences 
the  impressions  that  Clay's  tall,  slender  and  impres- 
sive figure  and  penetrating  blue  eyes  made  on  him. 
We  can  be  very  sure  that  when  Fernando  returned  to 
Bogota,  where  his  illustrious  uncle  was  then  living,  he 
told  him  of  his  meeting  with  this  great  Pan-American  ; 
and,  as  Bolivar  and  Clay  had  long  been  in  correspon- 
dence, any  news  direct  from  the  North  must  have 
been  doubly  agreeable  to  the  great  caraqueno. 

[158] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

It  is  not  generally  known  that,  in  his  efforts  to  have 
as  important  a  delegation  as  possible  from  the  United 
States  at  that  momentous  gathering,  he  urged  Albert 
Gallatin,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  who  had  been  for  thirteen  years  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  and  was  soon  afterward  appointed 
Minister  to  England,  to  be  one  of  the  representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  at  Panama.  Galla- 
tin's  reply  to  Clay's  offer  of  this  mission,  written  on 
November  I4th,  1825,  breathes  the  Pan-American 
spirit: — 

No  one  can  be  more  sensible  than  I  am,  both 
of  the  importance  of  laying  the  foundation  of  a 
permanent  friendship  between  the  United  States 
and  our  sister  Republics,  and  of  the  distinguished 
honor  conferred  on  the  persons  selected  to  be  the 
representatives  of  our  glorious  and  happy  country 
at  the  first  Congress  of  the  Independent  Powers 
of  this  Hemisphere 

Secretary  Clay  was  very  careful  to  choose  able  and 
distinguished  men  for  all  of  his  Latin-American  ap- 
pointments. Poinsett  and  Forbes,  at  Mexico  and 
Buenos  Aires,  were  among  the  best-trained  diplo- 
matists of  the  United  States  of  America;  William 
Henry  Harrison,  who  was  sent  to  Bogota,  was  after- 
ward President  of  the  United  Stares  of  America; 
Condy  Raguet,  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  came  of  a  well- 
known  Philadelphia  family,  and  was  himself  prominent 
(a  beautiful  piece  of  furniture  given  him  by  Dom  Pedro 

[159] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

I,  of  Brazil,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  family  of  the 
writer,  shows  how  he  was  appreciated  in  that  great 
Portuguese-speaking  country);  William  Tudor,  at 
Lima,  was  a  prominent  merchant  and  first  editor  of 
the  North  American  Review,  who  afterward  died  as 
United  States  Charge  d' Affaires  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  in 
1830;  and  Herman  Allen,  in  Chile,  was  an  able  Ver- 
mont lawyer,  whose  talents  were  needed  on  the  busy 
west  coast 

It  is  a  beautiful  and  inspiring  touch  of  the  many- 
sided  character  of  Henry  Clay,  that  so  much  of  his 
public  service  should  have  been  so  inspired  by  Pan- 
Americanism. 


[160] 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  PAN-AMERICAN  ORIGIN  OF  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

SO  much  has  been  written  regarding  the  origin  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  on  the  supposed  effects 
of  the  various  causes  contributing  to  its  origin,  toward 
its  application  at  various  times  to  different  situations, 
that  the  only  excuse  that  can  be  offered  for  discussing 
this  phase  of  it  must  be  to  cover  it  from  some  fresh 
point  of  view. 

The  distinguished  Peruvian  diplomatist  and  author, 
Dr.  Anibal  Maurtua,  on  page  20  of  his  book  "La  Idea 
Panamericana  y  la  cuestidn  de  Arbitraje,"  published 
in  Lima  in  1901,  refers  to  President  Monroe's  message 
of  December  2nd,  1823,  announcing  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  as  a  "Pan-American  Declaration."  The 
great  Argentine  international  jurist,  Carlos  Calvo, 
called  it  "  declaratory  of  complete  American  inde- 
pendence," and  the  Peruvian  author,  Carlos  Arenas  y 
Loayza,  states  in  his  excellent  monograph  on  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  published  in  Lima  in  1905,  that 
"the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  linked  with  our  past  and 
with  our  present,  and  gives  us  the  key  of  the  future 
of  these  republics,  considered  in  relation  to  the  events 
of  our  times  and  the  indications  of  the  future ;  which 
republics,  extending  over  the  same  continent,  form 
one  sole  body,  are  called  on  to  have  one  and  the  same 

[161] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

spirit,  and  to  work  in  accord,  in  edifying  friendship 
for  justice  and  peace  on  earth." 

Whence  comes  this  Pan-American  nature  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine?  It  comes  from  its  Pan-American 
origin. 

In  the  instructions  of  Secretary  Monroe  to  Alex- 
ander Scott,  agent  of  the  United  States  of  America  to 
Venezuela,  dated  May  I4th,  1812,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing statement:  — 

The  United  States  are  disposed  to  render  to  the 
Government  of  Venezuela,  in  its  relations  with 
foreign  Powers,  all  the  good  offices  that  they  may 
be  able.  Instructions  have  been  already  given  to 
their  Ministers  at  Paris,  St.  Petersburg,  and  Lon- 
don, to  make  known  to  those  Courts  that  the 
United  States  take  an  interest  in  the  independence 
of  the  Spanish  Provinces. 

The  next  link  in  the  chain  occurs  in  July,  1821, 
two  years  and  six  months  before  the  famous  Doctrine 
was  actually  issued,  in  a  dispatch  from  Mr.  Thomas 
L.  L.  Brent,  American  Charge  d'  Affaires  at  Madrid, 
to  the  Secretary  of  State,  dated  July  loth,  1821  : — 

As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  form  an  opinion, 
it  is,  that  the  foreign  Powers  during  the  agitation 
of  the  American  question,  have  endeavored  to 
prevent  any  arrangement  between  the  parties. 

On  the  Qth  of  July  Mr.  Brent  had  an  interview  with 
Mr.  Ravenga,  one  of  the  commissioners  of  Bolivia,  at 
Mr.  Ravenga's  request:  — 

[162] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

He  calculated,  he  said,  upon  the  friendship  of 
the  United  States  to  promote  the  independence 
of  the  Republic  of  Colombia;  he  had  a  full  con- 
viction that  he  could  rely  upon  it  Mr.  Monroe, 
when  Secretary  of  State,  had  informed  him  that 
all  the  Ministers  of  the  United  States  in  Europe 
had  instructions  to  advance  the  acknowledgment 
of  their  independence  by  foreign  Powers. 

I  sympathized  with  him  in  the  unpleasant  situa- 
tion in  which  he  was  placed,  and  feared  that  the 
sentiment  in  Spain  was  not  as  favorable  as  could 
be  desired.  He  was  perfectly  justified,  I  said,  in 
relying  upon  the  good  dispositions  of  the  United 
States.  It  was  their  interest  and  their  sincere 
wish  that  the  acknowledgment  of  the  independence 
of  South  America  should  be  accelerated.  The 
United  States  had  not  only  been  more  forward 
than  any  other  Power  in  publishing  to  the  world 
their  wishes  with  respect  to  her,  but  had  accom- 
panied them  with  actions,  which  certainly  afforded 
the  best  proof  of  their  sincerity,  and  among  them, 
I  adverted  to  the  message  of  the  President  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  at  the  commence- 
ment of  its  last  session,  in  which,  alluding  to  the 
proposed  negotiation  between  the  late  colonies 
and  Spain,  the  basis  of  which,  if  entered  upon, 
would  be  the  acknowledgment  of  their  independ- 
ence, he  says  :  "To  promote  that  result  by  friendly 
counsels,  including  Spain  herself,  has  been  the 
uniform  policy  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States." 

The  friendship  of  the  United  States,  he  said,  was 
very  grateful  to  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  and  he 
hoped  and  expected  that,  at  the  commencement  of 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

the  next  meeting  of  Congress,  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  its  independence  would  be  decided  upon; 
the  moment  had  arrived  when  all  the  Powers  of 
the  world  would  see  the  propriety  of  it.  He  cal- 
culated that  the  United  States  would  be  the  first  to 
take  this  step ;  hoped  to  see  a  confederacy  of  re- 
publics through  North  and  South  America,  united 
by  the  strongest  ties  of  friendship  and  interest, 
and  he  trusted  that  I  would  use  my  exertions  to 
promote  the  object  he  so  much  desired. 

I  heartily  concurred  with  him  in  the  hope  that 
all  governments  would  resolve  to  adopt  a  measure 
so  conformable  to  justice ;  joined  with  him  in  the 
agreeable  anticipations  of  the  progress  of  free 
principles  of  government,  of  the  intimate  union 
and  brilliant  prospects  of  the  states  of  our  new 
world.  I  presumed,  I  said,  it  was  not  necessary 
to  bring  to  his  mind  the  high  interest  felt  by  the 
United  States  in  their  welfare  —  an  interest  in 
which  I  deeply  participated,  and  desired,  as  much 
>  as  he  possibly  could,  the  happiness  of  our  Spanish- 
American  brethren.  What  would  be  the  deter- 
mination of  the  United  States  at  the  period  of  the 
commencement  of  Congress,  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  forsee :  whether  they  would  consider  it  a 
seasonable  moment  for  doing  that  which  was  so 
much  desired,  was  a  point  I  could  not  resolve. 

Six  months  later  a  request  came  from  the  first 
Latin-American  Minister  ever  received  by  the  United 
States  of  America,  Manuel  Torres,  of  Colombia  (see 
the  previous  chapter,  on  the  "Pan- Americanism  of 
Henry  Clay"),  for  the  United  States  to  announce  the 
Monroe  Doctrine : — 

[164] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  glory  and  the  satisfaction  of  being  the  first 
to  recognize  the  independence  of  a  new  republic 
in  the  south  of  this  continent  belongs,  in  all  re- 
spect and  considerations,  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  The  present  political  state  of 
New  Spain  requires  the  most  earnest  attention  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States.  There  has 
occurred  a  project,  long  since  formed,  to  establish 
a  monarchy  in  Mexico,  on  purpose  to  favor  the 
views  of  the  Holy  Alliance  in  the  New  World ; 
this  is  a  new  reason  which  ought  to  determine  the 
President  of  the  United  States  no  longer  to  delay 
a  measure  which  will  naturally  establish  an  Amer- 
ican Alliance,  capable  of  counteracting  the  projects 
of  the  European  Powers,  and  of  protecting  Re- 
publican institutions.  My  Government  has  entire 
confidence  in  the  prudence  of  the  President,  in 
his  disposition  to  favor  the  cause  of  liberty  and 
of  the  independence  of  South  America,  and  his 
great  experience  in  the  management  of  public 
business. — [i/th  Congress,  ist  Session,  No.  327 — 
Manuel  Torres  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  Philadel- 
phia, November  3Oth,  1821.] 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  was  written  over  two  years 
before  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  actually  declared  on 
December  2nd,  1823. 

The  following  extract  from  an  instruction  from  Sec- 
retary of  State  John  Quincy  Adams  to  the  first  United 
States  Minister  to  Colombia,  Richard  C.  Anderson, 
dated  May  27th,  1823,  six  months  before  the  decla- 
ration of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  continues  the  trend 
of  events : — 

[165] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

The  Colombian  Government,  at  various  times, 
have  manifested  a  desire  that  the  United  States 
should  take  some  further  and  active  part  in  ob- 
taining the  recognition  of  their  independence  by 
the  European  Governments  and  particularly  by 
Great  Britain.  This  has  been  done  even  before  it 
was  solicited.  All  the  Ministers  from  the  United 
States  in  Europe  have  been  instructed  to  promote 
the  cause,  by  any  means  consistent  with  propriety, 
and  adopted  to  their  end  at  the  respective  places 
of  their  residence.  The  formal  proposal  of  a  con- 
certed recognition  was  made  to  Great  Britain 
before  the  Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  At  the  re- 
quest of  Mr.  Torres,  on  his  dying  bed,  and  signi- 
fied to  us  after  his  decease,  Mr.  Rush  was  instructed 
to  give  every  aid  in  his  power,  without  offense  to 
the  British  Government,  to  obtain  the  admission  of 
Mr.  Ravenga  [see  Mr.  Brent's  dispatch  regarding 
Mr.  Ravenga,  printed  above];  of  which  instruc- 
tion, we  have  recent  assurance  from  Mr.  Rush  that 
he  is  constantly  mindful.  Our  own  recognition, 
undoubtedly,  opened  all  the  ports  of  Europe  to 
the  Colombian  flag,  and  your  mission  to  Colom- 
bia, as  well  as  those  to  Buesnos  Aires  and  Chile, 
cannot  fail  to  stimulate  the  cabinets  of  maritime 
Europe,  if  not  by  the  liberal  motives  that  in- 
fluenced us,  at  least,  by  selfish  impulse,  to  a  di- 
rect, simple  and  unconditional  recognition.  We 
shall  pursue  this  policy  steadily  through  all  the 
changes  to  be  foreseen,  of  European  affairs. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  pre- 
pondering  tendency  of  the  war  in  Spain  will  be 
to  promote  the  universal  recognition  of  the  South 
American  Governments,  and,  at  all  events,  our 

[166] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

course  will  be  to  promote  it  by  whatever  influence 
we  may  possess. 

In  this  connection  the  following  extract  from  a  let- 
ter from  Lafayette  to  Henry  Clay,  dated  December 
29th,  1826,  is  interesting: — 

How  do  you  find  Mr.  Canning's  assertion  in  the 
British  Parliament,  that  he,  Mr.  Canning,  has 
called  to  existence  the  new  Republics  of  the 
American  Hemisphere?  when  it  is  known  by  what 
example,  what  declaration,  and  what  feelings  of 
jealousy  the  British  Government  has  been  dragged 
into  a  slow,  gradual,  and  conditional  recognition 
of  that  independence. — [Vol.  IV,  page  155,  Works 
of  Clay,  1856  edition.] 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  deducted  that  — 

(1)  The  South  Americans  asked  for  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  ; 

(2)  Their  doing  so  gave  it,  from  its  inception,  a 
Pan-American  nature; 

(3)  Their  asking  for  it  furnishes  an  additional  argu- 
ment for  its  purely  American,  as  contrasted  with  its 
supposedly  Americo-British,  origin. 

(4)  Such  early  action  on  the  part  of  Latin  America 
should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  present-day  applications 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

The  following  quotation  from  a  pamphlet  published 
in  1902  by  the  late  William  L.  Scruggs,  formerly 
United  States  Minister  to  Colombia  and  Venezuela, 
supports  the  foregoing  sentiments  of  Lafayette  :  — 

[167] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

It  has  been  said  and  repeated  often  enough  to 
gain  some  degree  of  credence,  that  the  first  sug- 
gestion of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  had  an  European 
origin.  The  claim  is  that  the  British  Premier  Mr. 
Canning  suggested  it  to  Mr.  Rush,  during  their 
personal  conference  in  September,  1823,  relative 
to  the  designs  of  the  so-called  "  Holy  Alliance " 
upon  the  newly  enfranchised  Spanish-American 
republics. 

The  absurdity  of  this  claim  is  too  manifest  for 
serious  consideration.  In  the  first  place,  the  Can- 
ning-Rush conference  did  not  take  place  until  two 
months  after  the  date  of  Mr.  Adams'  note  to  Mr. 
Rush  nor  until  a  month  and  a  half  after  Mr. 
Adams'  oral  declarations  to  the  Russian  Minister. 
Hence  the  impossibility  that  the  suggestion  could 
have  come  from  Mr.  Canning  and  at  the  time  and 
place  indicated ;  and  it  has  never  been  intimated, 
much  less  asserted,  that  it  came  from  him  at  any 
time  prior  to  that.  In  the  second  place,  we  have 
Mr.  Canning's  own  words  in  refutation  of  the  claim 
which,  in  the  absence  of  rebutting  evidence,  ought 
to  be  conclusive.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  the 
British  Minister  at  Madrid,  dated  December  2ist, 
1823  (see  Stapleton's  "Canning  and  His  Times," 
P-  395>  Whartori s  Digest,  Sec.  57),  he  uses  this 
language:  "Monarchy  in  Mexico  and  Brazil  could 
cure  the  evils  of  universal  democracy,  and  prevent 
the  drawing  of  a  demarcation  which  I  most  dread — 
America  versus  Europe." 

And  further  on,  in  the  same  letter,  speaking  of 
his  conference  with  Mr.  Rush  he  says:  "While  I 
was  yet  hesitating,  in  September  last,  what  shape 
to  give  the  proposed  declaration  and  protest 

[168] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

[against  the  designs  of  the  Holy  Alliance],  I 
sounded  Mr.  Rush,  the  American  Minister  here,  as 
to  his  powers  and  disposition  to  join  in  any  step 
which  we  might  take  to  prevent  a  hostile  enterprise 
by  European  powers  against  Spanish  America. 
He  had  no  powers  ;  but  he  would  have  taken  upon 
himself  to  join  us  if  we  would  have  begun  by 
recognizing  the  independence  of  the  Spanish- 
American  States.  This  we  could  not  do,  and  so 
we  went  on  without  But  I  have  no  doubt  that 
his  report  to  his  Government  of  this  sounding, 
which  he  probably  represented  as  an  overture,  had 
something  to  do  in  hastening  tjie  explicit  declara- 
tion of  the  President" 

This  letter,  it  will  be  observed,  was  written  nine- 
teen days  after  the  date  of  Mr.  Monroe's  message 
to  Congress. 

The  point  is  that  Mr.  Canning  deliberately 
placed  himself  on  record  as  opposed  to  the  Doc- 
trine enunciated  in  both  the  message  and  the  note, 
and  hence  could  not  have  inspired  either. 


[169] 


CHAPTER  VI 

DIVERSIONS  IN  EUSCARAN  :  A  STUDY  IN  PERSISTENTLY 
INFLUENTIAL  HEREDITY 

IT  IS  a  strange  language,  this  Euscaran,  or  Basque ; 
by  far  the  most  unique  and  distinctly  interesting 
of  all  the  twenty-eight  tongues  in  which  one  may 
telephone  in  this  great  cosmopolitan  city  of  Buenos 
Aires.  But  it  is  stranger  still,  when  we  come  to  study 
the  Spanish  settlement  and  colonization  of  the  New 
World,  called  America,  how  these  same  Basques,  who 
comprise  only  three  per  cent  of  the  population  of 
Spain  and  who  have  never  occupied  more  than  one 
and  one-half  per  cent  of  its  area  since  Spain  has 
become  a  united  kingdom,  should  have  been  to  all 
Spanish  America  what  the  Dorian  hive  was  to  Greece, 
or  New  England  to  the  United  States  of  America. 
For  they  stretch  from  California  to  Cape  Horn ;  and 
we  find  the  Basque  Elisa  active  in  the  Spanish  settle- 
ment at  Nootka  Sound  in  1789,  which  was  as  far 
north  as  the  Spaniards  ever  tried  to  settle.  There 
have  been  French  Basques  enough  in  Canada  itself; 
but  that  is  another  story. 

Not  very  long  ago  the  governor  of  the  northern- 
most Mexican  province,  and  the  mayor  of  Punta 
Arenas  in  Chile,  the  southernmost  city  in  the  world, 
were  Basques ;  and  it  is  only  thirteen  years  since  three 

[170] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Basques  were,  all  at  one  and  the  same  time,  presidents 
of  the  Argentine  Republic,  Chile,  and  Uruguay, — 
Uriburu,  Errazuriz,  and  Idiarte  Borda.  This  coinci- 
dence merely  repeated  what  had  happened  about  one 
hundred  years  before,  when  Mendinueta  was  Viceroy 
of  New  Granada  at  the  same  time  that  Azanza  was 
Viceroy  of  Mexico.  As  regards  the  explorers  and 
discoverers,  both  Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo  were 
founded  by  Basques,  Juan  de  Garay  and  Pedro  de 
Zavala;  La  Rioja  and  Jujuy  were  both  founded  by 
another  Basque,  Juan  Ramirez  de.  Velasco ;  Pascual 
de  Andagoya  was  the  first  governor  of  the  city  of 
Panama;  and  Martin  de  Zubieta  explored  the  Straits 
of  Magellan  in  1581.  Long  before  this,  Magellan's 
second  in  command,  Sebastian  d'  Elcano,  the  first 
captain  to  round  the  world,  also  came  from  the  Basque 
provinces.  Martin  Garcia  de  Loyola,  a  cousin  of  the 
great  Basque  theologian  Ignatius  de  Loyola,  who 
founded  the  Jesuit  order,  married  a  niece  of  the  last 
Inca  of  Peru  ;  Echegoyen  was  a  colonial  administrator 
in  Santo  Domingo;  while  Diego  de  Ibarra  explored 
that  part  of  Mexico  which  he  called  Nueva  Vizcaya 
for  his  native  land.  Remember,  also,  that  Uruguay  was 
once  called  Nueva  Vizcaya.  The  great  river  Parana 
was  first  explored  and  developed  by  Diego  Martinez 
de  Irala  and  his  Basques  in  1548. 

I  really  cannot  agree  with  M.  Julien  Vinson  (though 
what  does  he  not  know  about  the  Basques?)  when  he 
says,  "Mais  le  cerveu  des  Basques  est  rebelle  aux 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

sciences  positives."  Perhaps  there  may  be;  but  the 
exceptions  almost  prove  the  rule.  I  am  willing  to 
grant  that  there  may  have  been  many  Basques — we 
will  discuss  some  of  them  a  little  later  on  — who  were 
noted  for  their  literary  attainments  of  various  kinds ; 
but  nobody  can  convince  me  that  when  this  morning's 
paper  says  that  young  Inocentio  Mendieta,  a  Cuban 
Basque  boy,  is  looked  on  with  longing  eyes  by  Man- 
ager Clark  Griffith  for  the  Washington  baseball  team, 
that  there  are  not  some  Basques  who  are  familar  with 
one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  positive  sciences. 

Again,  is  not  sheep-farming  and  sheep-raising  a  pos- 
itive science?  My  friend  Mr.  Onagoity  sells  about 
3,000  sheep  a  day  to  one  soulless  corporation  or 
another;  injact  almost  all  the  present  meat  supply 
that  we  are  drawing  from  Argentina  is  handled  by 
Basques  in  one  way  or  another.  Ten  to  one  it  was 
a  Basque  shepherd  or  herdsman  that  took  care  of  the 
cow  or  sheep  whose  meat  will  soon  lie  upon  the 
breakfast  table  of  the  United  States  public  in  general, 
when  it  roamed  in  a  primitive  condition  over  the  pam- 
pas of  the  Rio  Negro  or  of  Buenos  Aires  province. 

Is  not  seamanship  a  positive  science?  The  great 
Spanish  admiral  Oquendo,  prominent  in  the  first  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  Alava  y  Navrete, 
famous  for  his  circumnavigation  of  the  globe  in  1791, 
as  well  as  Commander  Ugarriza  of  the  Argentine 
navy,  who  superintended  the  construction  of  the 
Argentine  dreadnaught  "Rivadavia"  at  Fore  River,  all 

.[172] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

of  them  Basques,  were  certainly  practical  sailors.  "All 
is  lost  save  honor,"  said  Francis  I  of  France,  when 
taken  a  prisoner  by  a  Basque  soldier,  Juan  de  Urbieta. 

Though  the  Basque  provinces  were  free  from  mili- 
tary service  until  1876,  when  they  were  finally  and  fully 
incorporated  into  the  rest  of  Spain,  they  produced 
soldiers  enough  in  both  the  Old  and  the  New  World. 
Zumalacarregui  was  the  backbone  of  the  Carlist  strug- 
gle of  1833-39,  while  the  name  of  Simon  Bolivar — of 
almost  pure  Euscaran  ancestry  —  needs  no  comment. 
He  was  not  the  only  Basque  to  play  a  prominent  part 
in  the  Spanish-American  War  of  Independence.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Venezuelan  historian  Aristides  Rojas, 
at  least  fifty  of  his  Venezuelan  companions  were 
Basques;  while  Necochea,  Azcuenaga,  Larrea,  Urdi- 
ninea,  Uriondo  in  Argentina,  Zanartu  in  Chile,  Oribe 
in  Uruguay,  Unanue  in  Peru,  Urdaneta  in  Venezuela, 
and  Iturbide  in  Mexico,  were  of  the  same  stock.  So 
were  many  of  their  opponents,  as  Iturrigaray,  the  last 
Viceroy  in  Mexico,  and  Goyeneche  in  Peru. 

Finance  is  certainly  a  positive  science.  The  Basque 
Mendizabel  was  Minister  of  Finance  of  Spain ;  and, 
while  I  write,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of 
the  Argentine  Republic,  Dr.  Iriondo,  is  another,  as  is 
Dr.  Guinazu,  the  City  Treasurer  of  Buenos  Aires. 
More  than  a  fifth  of  the  members  of  the  Chilean 
Chamber  of  Deputies  have  Basque  names.  Three  of 
the  twelve  Argentine  presidents  since  1853  have  been 
Basques.  Let  us  look  farther  north  again.  Manuel 

['73] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

de  Alava  was  in  command  when  Nootka  Sound  was 
evacuated  on  March  23rd,  1795  ;  Arrillaga  was  gov- 
ernor of  California,  1783-1814. 

But  where  are  your  Montts,  your  Comonforts, 
your  Amats  y  Junients,  your  Guiriors,  and  all  the 
rest  who  came  from  Catalonia  and  the  ancient  and 
very  noble  kingdom  of  Aragon?  Did  they  not  do 
fully  as  much  in  the  New  World  as  the  Basques? 
Perhaps  they  did ;  but  they  spread  over  a  very  much 
greater  area  in  Spain  than  did  the  Basques,  they 
had  a  larger  population  and  area  to  draw  from  ; 
and  for  a  long  while  they  had  Naples  and  Sicily  to 
develop  and  play  with.  We  will  take  them  up  again 
some  day,  just  as  the  Estremadura  people  and  the 
Gallegos  deserve  special  mention,  to  say  nothing 
of  those  from  the  two  Castiles  and  Leon;  but  the 
Basques  must  come  first ;  when  people  live  on  a  stern 
and  rock-bound  coast,  they  generally  make  their  influ- 
ence felt  whenever  they  care  to  emigrate. 

When  you  have  a  people  who  speak  their  own  lan- 
guage, when  everybody  about  them  has  had  to  go  to 
the  Latin  to  borrow  theirs,  and  who  are  proud  of  this 
unique  and  highly  specialized  method  of  expression 
of  their  own ;  who  are  better  in  defence  than  in  attack, 
who  are  willing  to  take  the  risk  of  responsibility  of 
being  an  emperor  of  the  Mexicans  or  taking  charge 
of  a  few  hundred  sheep  on  the  lonely  pampas,  you 
have  one  of  the  finest  types  of  the  modern  pioneer. 
I  think  St.  Francis  Xavier  was  a  typical  Basque.  He 

[174] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

stopped  at  absolutely  nothing,  he  wore  himself  out  to 
fulfil  his  life  purpose  ;  yes,  he  died  for  it,  on  a  little 
island  off  the  Chinese  coast  in  1551,  just  as  the  four 
Basque  priests  died  by  the  bedsides  of  the  sick  and 
lowly,  when  the  yellow  fever  came  to  Buenos  Aires 
in  1871. 

Yes,  the  Basques  specialize  in  cooperatively  helpful 
charity.  When  the  first  Associated  Charities  was 
founded  in  the  New  World,  the  Benevolent  Society 
of  Buenos  Aires,  on  January  2nd,  1823,  the  vice- 
president,  one  of  the  two  secretaries,  and  five  of  the 
nine  members  of  the  executive  committee  were  Basque 
ladies;  and  the  president's  mother  was  a  Basque  lady. 
It  is  high  time  to  talk  of  the  noble  army  of  mothers, 
sisters  and  wives  that  have  sallied  forth  from  Euscaria, 
from  the  Viceroy's  lady  stepping  down  from  her 
sedan  chair  in  Lima  or  entering  Bogota  in  state,  to 
Juana,  or  Isabela,  whose  husband  was  but  a  private 
soldier  in  the  armies  of  His  Most  Catholic  Majesty. 
I  asked  my  washerwoman  the  other  day  if  she  were  a 
Spaniard.  "No,  Senor ;  I  am  from  the  Kingdom  of 
Navarre."  And  the  Spanish  part  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Navarre,  whence  good  old  Manuela  came,  had  ceased 
to  be  a  separate  political  entity  exactly  four  hundred 
years  ago. 

You  cannot  have  a  language  nowadays  without  a 
literature.  We  meet  with  the  traces  of  a  Basque 
language  first  of  all  very  nearly  one  thousand  years 
ago,  in  A.D.  980.  In  1881  the  Spanish  Jesuit  scholar, 

[175] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Fita,  discovered  a  twelfth-century  manuscript  contain- 
ing eighteen  Basque  words ;  and  the  first  Basque  book 
was  printed  in  1545.  In  1571  the  translation  of  the 
Prostestant  Bible  into  Basque  was  ordered  by  Jeanne 
d'Albret;  it  was  printed  at  La  Rochelle.  Not  very 
long  after  we  have  the  first  American  epic  poem  — 
the  "Araucana  of  Alonso  de  Ercilla" — which  was 
written  by  a  Basque.  Now  open  your  Cotton  Mather's 
"Magnalia"  and  read  of  the  wonder-working  provi- 
dences of  the  Almighty  in  New  England,  or  of 
Michael  Wigglesworth's  sweetly  cheering  words  on 
the  eternal  damnation  of  infants  in  his  "Day  of 
Doom,"  and  tell  me  if  there  is  anything  in  the  "Arau- 
cania"  like  that.  It  is  dully  and  drily  written  in 
spots,  I  will  admit;  but  we  have  flashes  of  quaint 
beauty  throughout  The  Basque  Pedro  de  Ona's  lit- 
tle sonnet  of  1602,  to  the  oldest  American  university, 
that  of  the  most  flourishing  university  of  San  Marcos, 
is  like  some  of  those  old  leather-backed  chairs  you 
can  still  buy  in  Cuzco  or  in  the  Bolivian  highlands ;  it 
has  a  fragrance  of  prettiness  with  a  shimmer  of  natural 
affection:  — 

Sweet  Fountain  of  Pure  Water,  so  pure  that 
thou  chantest  Victory  before  the  Sun ;  with  which 
the  plants  of  this  Antarctic  Vale  are  bathed  with 
Dew,  and  Sprinkl'd  over  with  Freshness;  Thou, 
who  raisest  thyself  to  the  Sublime  Regions,  where 
thy  drops  are  holy  Stars  who  by  themselves  change 
obscurity  to  Light, — 

[I76] 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

Doubt  not  indeed,  that  from  the  waters  clear, 
Of  all  thy  Doctrines,  and  thine  Healthy  Rule, 
The  Farthest  Nations  shall  take  Note  and  Hear ; 
Since  thou  a  Mark,  a  Philip  too  doth  know  ; 
Which  thine  unconquerable  strength  to  show 
Are  pictured  as  two  Lions  on  thy  Scroll. 

This  has  not  as  much  swing,  perhaps,  as  some  of 
Echevarria's  Argentine  poems,  where  he  tells  of  the 
now  vanished  gauchos,  or  cowboys,  of  the  pampas 

and  plains, — 

Bold  Quiroga  compelling, 
To  stay  his  rebelling, 
Throughout  the  glad  morning  whilst  forward  they  stray. 

Now  the  language  itself  of  these  people  of  the 
mountainous  northeastern  corner  of  Spain  is  quite 
worth  while.  Take  the  root  Egui,  the  truth  or  justice : 
Senor  Leguia  is  president  of  Peru,  while  Dr.  Eguiguren 
is  chief  justice  thereof;  Dr.  Eguiara  is  a  prominent 
Mexican  physician ;  and  Minister  Belaustegui  intro- 
duced physical  training  into  the  Argentine  schools. 
Many  Basques  have  tree-names,  just  as  the  Japanese 
have:  Yanagi,  the  Willow,  is  a  Japanese  surname;  and 
we  have  Salazar  and  Sarasate,  which  mean  the  Willow 
in  Basque.  There  is  no  general  word  for  animal  or  tree 
in  Basque ;  because  it  is  not  a  selfish  language  at  all ; 
every  animal  or  tree  has  its  own  name.  Thus,  Lizarr 
is  the  Ash-tree ;  Lizarr-aga  the  Ash-wood ;  Zumarr, 
the  Elm  (as  in  Zumarraga,  etc.);  Ur  is  the  Water. 

A  great  many  Basque  words  begin  in  Ur.  Let  us 
analyze  a  word  with  Ur  in  the  middle  of  it, —  a  four- 

[177] 
'3 


INTER-AMERICAN  ACQUAINTANCES 

story  word  with  a  garret  and  cellar, — like  Asta- 
buruaga,  for  instance.  Asia,  or  Astur,  is  the  Moun- 
tain-water ;  Buru  is  the  Head ;  and  I  really  forget  what 
Aga  does  mean.  To  come  to  land  again,  Erria  or 
Erri  is  the  Land  ;  Salaverry,  the  Willow-land  ;  Echever- 
ria,  the  House  and  Land,  etc.  Look  at  the  Belasco 
Theatre.  What  does  Belasco  mean?  Bella  or  Velia 
is  the  Raven.  Belasco  or  Velasco  is  the  Son  of  the 
Raven.  Ochoa  or  Otsoa,  as  the  old  spelling  is,  is  the 
Wolf.  They  borrow  and  annex  words,  too ;  look  at 
Mendiburu  ;  Mendi  is  the  Latin  Mons,  with  the  beauti- 
ful Basque  Buru  attached.  And  so  we  could  go  on 
all  night  if  necessary ;  but  who  really  cares  to  learn  to 
read  Basque,  if  the  Spanish  is  printed  in  the  opposite 
column?  They  all  tell  us  that  nobody  can  learn  this 
language ;  His  Satanic  Majesty  tried  to,  and  really 
couldn't;  but  that  is  what  the  jealous  people  from  the 
rest  of  Spain  say. 

"  Urquidi  and  Urquiza  stay  ;  while  noble  in  his  pain 
Urduna  soothes  the  bloody  wound  that  pains  Urdinarrain  ; 
The  good  Ellauri  is  gone  ;  and  jocund,  gone  the  strain 
That  hung  above  our  weary  heads,  like  as  the  summer  rain 
Gathers  and  threatens  ere  descends,  sprinkling  with  fertile 

spray 

The  meadow  and  the  valley  green,  that  clothe  our  Uruguay, 
They  turn  triumphant  to  the  toil,  that  beckons  them  before, 
And  holds  them  with  their  holy  hope,  that  hears  our  Hus 

piaur." 


[178] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

1807-1826 

1807,  Oct.  4 — De  Forest  writes  to  Secretary  Madison  from  Bue- 
nos Aires  regarding  United  States  interest  there. 

1809,  Jan.  22— Spanish  Royal  Decree  enacts  that  Spanish-Amer- 

ican Colonies  are  an  integral  part  of  the  Mon- 
archy and  can  be  represented  in  the  Cortes. 

Mar.  7 — Thomas  Sumter  appointed  United  States  Minister 
to  the  Portuguese  Court' at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

May  25 — Royalist  Governor  deposed  at  Chuquisaca  (Char- 
cas),  Bolivia. 

1810,  April  10 — Venezuelan  insurrection  against  Spain. 
May  25 — Buenos  Aires  "Cabildo  Abierto." 

June  ii — J.  V.  Bolivar  and  Telesforo  de  Orea  leave  Vene- 
zuela for  the  United  States. 

June  28 — The  United  States  Secretary  of  State  instructs 
an  agent,  Joel  Roberts  Poinsett,  to  visit  South 
America,  and  appoints  him  agent  for  commerce 
and  seamen  at  Buenos  Aires. 

July  7 — Expedition  of  1,150  patriots  leaves  Buenos  Aires 
for  the  interior. 

Aug.  26 — Shooting  of  Liniers. 

Sept.  18 — The  Junta  de  Gobierno  proclaimed  at  Santiago 
de  Chile. 

Sept.  24 — The  Cabildo  of  Montevideo  decrees  the  founding 
of  a  newspaper. 

Oct.  27— Defeat  of  Balcarce  at  Catagaita. 

Nov.  6 — Robert  K.  Lowry  sent  as  United  States  Agent  to 
Cardcas. 

Nov.  7 — Argentine  victory  at  Suipacha,  under  Balcarce. 

Nov.  — Arrival  of  Telesforo  de  Orea  as  Venezuelan 
Agent  in  the  United  States. 

['79] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

1810,  Nov.  28 — Translation  of  Jefferson  published  in  Gaseta  de 

Buenos  Aires. 

1811,  April  30 — Secretary   Monroe  appoints   Louis  Goddefroy 

United  States  Consul  for  Buenos  Aires  and  the 
ports  below  it  on  the  River  Plate. 

May  14 — Outbreak  at  Asuncion,  Paraguay. 

May  18 — Victory  of  Artigas,  with  some  Buenos  Airean 
forces,  over  the  Royalists  at  Las  Piedras. 

June  20 — Battles  of  Juraicoragua  and  Huaqui. 

June  29 — The  Infanta  Carlota,  in  a  communication  to  the 
Cortes,  complains  that  the  United  States  En- 
voy (Poinsett)  has  not  ceased  to  influence  the 
Revolution  of  Buenos  Aires. 

July  4 — First  Chilean  National  Congress  meets  at  Santi- 
ago de  Chile. 

July     5 — Venezuelan  Declaration  of  Independence. 

July  25 — Arrival  of  Jose"  Miguel  Carrera  in  Chile. 

Aug.  13 — Rozas  leaves  Santiago  for  Concepcion,  Chile. 

Aug.  14 — "  Rules  for  the  Temporatory  Organization  of  the 
Executive  in  Chile  "  published. 

Sept.  4 — Rozas  restored  to  power  in  Chile ;  Supreme 
Court  of  Justice  formed. 

Sept.  23 — Triumvirate  established  as  Executive  Authority 
of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata. 

Oct.  7 — It  was  enacted  in  Chile  that  all  discussions  of 
Congress  and  all  acts  of  the  Government  be 
published. 

Oct.  25 — Saavedra  and  Aguirre  arrive  in  Washington, 
D.  C. 

Nov.  5 — President  Madison's  message  to  the  United  States 
Congress,  containing  his  first  allusions  to  South 
American  independence. 

Nov.  15 — William  Gilchrist  Miller  recognized  as  United 
States  Vice-Consul  in  Buenos  Aires. 

Nov.  21 — Arrival  of  "  Galloway  "  from  New  York  at  Val- 
paraiso with  printing-press  for  Chileans. 

Dec.  i — Interview  of  Saavedra  and  Aguirre,  from  Buenos 
Aires,  with  Stephen  Girard  in  Philadelphia. 

[180] 


EPITOME  OF   DATES 

1812,  Jan.  9 — Interview  of  Saavedra  and  Aguirre  with  Secretary 

James  Monroe. 

Mar.  13 — Arrival  of  San  Martin  and  Alvear  and  Zapiola  in 
Buenos  Aires,  from  Cadiz. 

May  14 — Secretary  Monroe  issues  instructions  to  Alexan- 
der Scott,  Agent  to  Venezuela. 

May  19 — Arrival  of  Saavedra  and  Aguirre  at  Buenos 
Aires  from  Philadelphia  on  the  ship  "  Liberty." 

July   4 — Celebration  at  Santiago  de  Chile. 

July  26 — Treaty  of  Vittoria-Miranda  and  Monteverde 
(Venezuela). 

Sept.  4 — Rivadavia's  decree  encouraging  emigration  to 
Argentina. 

Sept.  26 — Victory  of  Tucuman. 

Oct.     8 — Military  mutiny  in  Buenos  Aires. 

1813,  Jan.  31 — Argentine  Constitutional  Assembly  meets. 
Feb.  10 — Juan  Manuel  de  Luca  officially  informs  United 

States  Vice-Consul  Miller  at  Buenos  Aires 
that  the  Aagentine  Government  desires  to  ini- 
tiate "  commercial  relations  of  mutual  interest" 
with  the  United  States  of  America. 

Mar.  26 — Royalist  Army  from  Peru  under  Antonio  Pareja 
lands' at  Talcahuano. 

April  i — Carrera  reaches  Rancagua,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Poinsett. 

April  4 — Congress  of  Uruguay  meets  under  Presidency  of 
Artigas. 

April   5 — Carrera  arrives  at  Talca. 

April  15— Pareja  reaches  Chilian  with  5,500  men.  All  Chile 
south  of  Maule  under  his  control. 

April  20 — Chilean  victory  at  Yerbas  Buenas. 

May  15 — Battle  of  San  Carlos. 

July    10 — Carrera  begins  the  seige  of  Chilian. 

July  21 — The  Argentine  Triumvirate  informs  President 
Madison  of  the  desirability  of  a  "fraternal  al- 
liance which  would  truly  unite  the  Americas  of 
the  North  and  South  forever." 

Aug.  4 — Bolivar  enters  Caracas  in  triumph. 

[181] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

1813,  Oct.    i — Paraguayan  Declaration  of  Independence  ratified. 
Oct.     — Defeat  of  Carrera. 

Oct.  17— Battle  of  Roble. 

Nov.  27 — Junta  replaces  Carrera  by  Belgrano  at  Vileapujo. 

1814,  Jan.  28 — Proclamation  of  O'Higgins. 
April  5 — Ganeza  falls  back  on  Talca. 

June  23 — Montevideo  surrenders  to  Patriot  General  Carlos 
de  Alvear.  End  of  Spanish  dominion  in  River 
Plate. 

Aug.  10 — San  Martin  appointed  Governor  of  Cuyo  ;  he  re- 
sided in  Mendoza. 

Dec.     — Bolivar  appears  before  Bogota. 

1815,  Jan.    9 — Resignation  of  Director  Posadas  at  Buenos  Aires  ; 

Alvear  succeeds  him. 

Jan.  16 — Portuguese  sovereignty  takes  title  of  King  of 
Portugal,  Brazil,  and  the  Algarves. 

Aug.  29 — John  C.  Zimmermann  arrives  at  Buenos  Aires  with 
$19,000  worth  of  military  supplies  for  the  Ar- 
gentine Government  on  the  schooner  "  Kemp '' 
from  Baltimore. 

Dec.  6 — Spanish  General  Morillo  occupies  Cartegena. 

1816,  Jan.  29 — Henry  Clay  asserts  in  United  States  House  of 

Representatives  that  the  United  States  may 
have  to  openly  "  take  part  with  the  patriots  of 
South  America." 

Jan.  30 — Pope  Pius  VII  issues  encyclical  against  South 
Americaa  independence. 

Mar.     — Maria  I  dies;  Joao  VI  succeeds. 

Mar.  25 — Corps  of  deputies  meet  at  Tucuman. 

July  9 — Argentine  Declaration  of  Independence  at  Tucu- 
man ;  Francia's  dictatorship  made  perpetual  in 
Paraguay. 

1817,  Jan.  17 — San  Martin  begins  the  passage  of  the  Andes  with 

3,000  infantry,  1,000  cavalry,  1,600  horses,  900 
mules. 
Jan.   19 — Portuguese  take  possession  of  Montevideo. 

[182] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

1817,  Feb.    9— United  States  ship  "  Clifton  "  arrives  at  Buenos 

Aires  for  the  Argentine  Government. 

Feb.  12 — Battle  of  Chacabuco. 

Feb.  14 — San  Martin  enters  Santiago  de  Chile. 

Feb.  16 — Victory  of  Bolivar  and  Paez  over  Morillo. 

July  18 — John  B.  Prevost  sent  to  Chile-Peru  as  Commis- 
sioner of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Nov.  21 — United  States  Consul  Halsey  is  dispatched  on 
his  visit  to  Artigas. 

Dec.  2 — President  Monroe's  message  to  Congress  recog- 
nizes some  of  the  revolting  Spanish-American 
countries  as  belligerents. 

Dec.  3 — Clay's  motion  to  inquire  what  was  necessary  to 
secure  to  the  South  Americans  their  rights  as 
belligerents. 

Dec.  4 — United  States  Commissioners  Rodney,  Graham, 
Bland,  and  Breckenridge  (secretary)  sail  from 
Hampton  Roads  in  U.  S.  frigate  "Congress" 
for  Buenos  Aires. 

1818,  Jan.  i — O'Higgins  publishes  proclamation  of  Chilean  in- 

dependence. 

Feb.  18 — Independence  of  Chile  proclaimed. 

Feb.  28 — United  States  Commissioners  arrive  in  Buenos 
Aires. 

Mar.  25 — Henry  Clay's  speech  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives to  acknowledge  South  American  inde- 
pendence. 

Mar.  26 — Ball  given  in  Buenos  Aires  for  the  United  States 
Commissioners,  Rodney,  Bland  and  Graham,  by 
Lynch,  Zimmermann  &  Co.  The  band  played 
the  "  Washington  March." 

April    5— Battle  of  Maipu,  Chile. 

April  24 — Rodney  and  Graham  leave  Buenos  Aires  for  the 
United  States  of  America. 

Oct.  28 — Wooster's  assault  on  Talcahuano. 

Nov.  1 3 — San  Martin's  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Peru,  urging  the  union  of  Argentina,  Chile  and 
Peru,  and  a  Central  Congress  composed  of 
their  representatives. 

[183] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

1818,  Nov.  28 — Lord  Cochrane  reaches  Valparaiso. 

Dec.  — Rodney's  and  Prevost's  reports  sent  to  the  United 
States  Congress. 

1819,  Jan.  16 — Cochrane  sails  from  Valparaiso  to  Callao,  Peru. 
Feb.  5 — Tagle-Irissari  treaty  between  Argentina  and  Chile. 
Feb.  15 — Congress  of  Angostura. 

Aug.  7 — Battle  of  Boyaca. 

Dec.  7 — Fundamental  law  declaring  Venezuela  and  Colom- 
bia to  be  one  state. 

1820,  Feb.     — Lord  Cochrane  takes  Valdivia. 

May  20 — Henry  Clay  introduces  motion  to  inaugurate 
diplomatic  intercourse  with  independent  South 
American  nations. 

Aug.  21 — San  Martin  and  Cochrane  sail  from  Valparaiso. 

Sept.     — San  Martin  lands  near  Huacho,  Peru. 

Nov.    5 — "  Esmeralda  "  captured  from  Spaniards  at  Callao . 

Nov.  25 — Armistice  at  Trujillo,  Peru. 

1821,  Feb.  6 — Henry  Clay  secures  passage  of  resolution  that  the 

United  States  feels  deep  interest  for  Spanish- 
American  Provinces  struggling  for  liberty. 

Mar.  20 — Cochrane  captures  Pisco,  Peru. 

June  23 — Battle  of  Carabobo  ;  Bolivar's  victory. 

June  29 — Bolivar  enters  Caracas. 

July    6 — Patriot  army  enters  Lima,  Peru. 

July  9 — United  States  Charg£  d'Affaires  Brent,  at  Madrid, 
is  interviewed  there  by  Ravenga,  Bolivia's 
commissioner. 

July  28 — Peruvian  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Aug.    9 — University  of  Buenos  Aires  founded. 

Aug.  30 — Constitution  of  Colombia  adopted. 

1822,  Mar.   8 — President  James  Monroe  recommended  acknowl- 

edgement of  the  independence  of  the  South 
American  Republics  by  the  United  States  of 
America. 

April  22 — Rules  for  elections  issued  from  Peru  by  San 
Martin. 

[184] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

22,  May  4 — South  American  independence  recognized  by  the 
United  States  of  America. 

May  14 — Battle  of  Pichincha,  Ecuador;  Victory  of  the 
Patriot  army. 

May  19 — Iturbide  crowned  Emperor  (Agustin  I)of  Mexico. 

June  19 — Manuel  Torres  received  by  President  Monroe  as 
Charge"  d'Affaires  from  Colombia. 

July  ii — San  Martin  arrives  at  Guayaquil. 

July  27-28 — Interview  of  Bolivar  and  San  Martin  at  Guay- 
aquil. 

Sept.    7 — Independence  of  Brazil  proclaimed. 

Nov.  29 — Cochrane  resigns  his  commission  in  Chilean  navy. 

1823,  Jan.  18 — Cochrane  finally  sails  away  from  Valparaiso,  pro- 
ceeding to  Brazil. 

Jan.  27 — The  United  States  of  America  appoints  Ministers 
to  Mexico,  Chile,  Colombia,  and  the  United 
Provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  thereby 
recognizing  those  countries'  independence. 

Feb.  26 — Jose*  de  la  Riva  Aguero  appointed  President  of 
Peru. 

June  8 — Caesar  A.  Rodney  sails  for  Buenos  Aires  from 
Philadelphia  as  United  States  Minister. 

July  1 6 — Brazilian  naval  victory  over  the  Portuguese,  in 
latitude  5  degrees  north. 

Aug.  i — Brazilian  authority  permanently  established  at 
Maranhao,  and  soon  afterwards,  at  Para.  End 
of  Portuguese  dominion  in  Brazil. 

Aug.  — Rivadavia  founds  the  first  agricultural  school  in 
America  on  the  Recolate  estate  in  Buenos 
Aires. 

Aug.  10 — Peruvian  Congress  bestows  on  Simon  Bolivar  the 
title  of  "  Dictator  and  Liberator  of  Peru." 

Oct.  24 — Ex-President  Jefferson  writes  President  Monroe 
that  "America,  North  and  South,  has  a  set  of 
interests  distinct  from  those  of  Europe,  and 
peculiarly  her  own." 

Nov.  16 — Arrival  of  Csesar  A.  Rodney  at  Buenos  Aires  as 
United  States  Minister. 

[185] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

Nov.  18 — Rodney  is  so  recognized  by  Argentine  Govern- 
ment. 

Dec.  2 — President  Monroe's  message  to  the  United  States 
Congress  (Monroe  Doctrine)  containing  the 
following  statement  referring  to  Latin  America : 
"  With  the  governments  who  have  declared 
their  independence  and  maintained  it,  and 
whose  independence  we  have,  on  great  consid- 
eration and  on  just  principles,  acknowledged, 
we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the 
purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in 
any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  Euro- 
pean power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the 
manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  to- 
wards the  United  States." 

Dec.  3 — Carlos  de  Alvear  appointed  Argentine  Minister 
to  the  United  States. 

Dec.  7 — Bolivar  issues  invitations  from  Lima  to  Pan- 
American  Congress  at  Panama. 

1824,  Jan.  20 — The  King  of  Spain  abolishes  the  Political  Consti- 
tution of  the  Indies  by  an  edict,  thus  placing 
affairs  exactly  as  they  were  in  1820. 

Feb.  3 — Consuls  appointed  by  Great  Britain  to  the  free 
1  Provinces  of  America  —  a  year  after  their 
diplomatic  recognition  by  the  United  States  of 
America. 

Feb.  9 — Monroe's  message  to  Congress  of  December  2, 
1825,  printed  in  the  Gaceta  Afercanttlot  Buenos 
Aires. 

Mar.  25 — Emperor  of  Brazil  (Pedro  I)  swears  to  Constitu- 
tion. 

May  6 — The  King  of  Spain  issues  a  declaration  that  he 
would  never  consent  to  the  independence  of 
his  former  American  colonies,  but  that  he 
would  appeal  to  a  Congress  of  European 
soverigns  in  regard  thereto. 

May  26 — The  United  States  of  America  recognizes  the  in- 
dependence of  Brazil. 

[186] 


EPITOME  OF  DATES 

1824,  June  10 — Rivadavia's  funeral  oration  over  Czesar  Rodney, 

the  first  United  States  Minister  to  Argentina. 

Aug.  4 — The  United  States  of  America  recognizes  the 
independence  of  the  Central  American  Fede- 
ration. 

Dec.  9 — Battle  of  Ayacucho  ;  Victory  of  Bolivar  over  the 
Spaniards. 

Dec.  16 — Constitutional  Convention  meets  at  Buenos  Aires. 

1825,  Jan.    i — National  Convention  meets  at  Buenos  Aires. 
Jan.  23 — National  Constitution  of  Federation  of  States  of 

the  Rio  de  la  Plata  agreed  upon. 

Mar.  6 — Francisco  de  Paula  Santander,  President  of  Co- 
lombia, states  that  the  United  States  should  be 
invited  to  the  Panama  Congress  "  to  participate 
in  deliberations  of  common  interest  to  such 
sincere  and  enlightened  friends." 

June     — Bolivar  visits  upper  Peru. 

Aug.  25 — JoSo  VI  abdicates  crown  of  Brazil  in  favor  of 
Don  Pedro  I. 

Aug.     — First  Bolivian  Congress. 

1826,  Jan.   ii — Chilean  assault  on  battery  of   San   Carlos  on 

Island  of  Chiloe ;  Freeman  Oxley,  a  United 
States  citizen  in  the  Chilean  navy,  is  killed. 

Jan.  28 — Surrender  of  the  last  Spanish  fortress  in  South 
America  —  Callao  —  to  the  Peruvians. 

Apr.  ii — Daniel  Webster's  speech  defending  Monroe 
Doctrine. 

May  2 — The  United  States  of  America  recognizes  inde- 
pendence of  Peru. 

June  22-July  15 — Pan-American  Congress  at  Panama. 

Sept.    — Bolivar  leaves  Lima. 

Dec.  24 — "  Unitario  "  constitution  of  Rivadavia  adopted  by 
Argentina. 


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